Stick to the Truth
Notes
Transcript
Planning
Planning
Passage
Passage
1 The elder, To the lady chosen by God and to her children, whom I love in the truth—and not I only, but also all who know the truth—2 because of the truth, which lives in us and will be with us forever: 3 Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, will be with us in truth and love. 4 It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us. 5 And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. 6 And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love. 7 I say this because many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. 8 Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully. 9 Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take them into your house or welcome them. 11 Anyone who welcomes them shares in their wicked work. 12 I have much to write to you, but I do not want to use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to visit you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete. 13 The children of your sister, who is chosen by God, send their greetings.
Passage structure
Passage structure
Greeting (2 John 1-3)
Command to love one another (vv. 4-6)
Responding to deceivers (vv. 7-11)
Farewell (vv. 12-13)
Big stuff
Big stuff
Big idea: Don’t fall into deception but stick to the truth.
Fallen condition focus: We are tempted to run on to new teaching.
Good news statement: We have the teaching of Christ, through which we love and have life.
Felt need: We want to know the truth AND we still want to be saved.
Big question: How do we stick to the truth?
Big stuff (old - focussing on love)
Big stuff (old - focussing on love)
Big idea: Love is obedience to God’s commands.
Fallen condition focus: We think love is something else (what makes us happy, rich, successful, tolerance, etc.)
Good news statement: God has shown us how to love.
Felt need: We want to love others well.
Big question: How do we love others well?
Sermon structure
Sermon structure
Intro
Ian Harber and progressive Christianity - https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/progressive-christianity-shallower-evangelical-faith-i-left/
The danger of moving on
How do we stick to the truth?
John cares about his readers sticking to the truth
vv. 1-3
Elder and lady
Count how many times “truth” appears
2 John 1–3 “1 The elder, To the lady chosen by God and to her children, whom I love in the truth—and not I only, but also all who know the truth—2 because of the truth, which lives in us and will be with us forever: 3 Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, will be with us in truth and love.”
Sermon structure
1, Walk in love (vv. 4-7)
Why ‘walking in love’ might be surprising as one way we stick to the truth
Youth group: how do we stick to the truth? Gaining more knowledge via church, youth group, and reading the Bible
Gaining more knowledge is not the whole solution but only part of it
But John shows us walking in love is how we stick to the truth
vv. 4-6 about love
2 John 4–6 “4 It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us. 5 And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. 6 And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.”
Different point or separate point?
2 John 7 “7 I say this because many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.”
Love confirms the truth
[Blank slide] Positive examples of love confirming the truth
Testimonies: loving Christians representing the love of Christ
Jesus said the two greatest commands were to love God and to love your neighbour.
Personal suffering: love of Christians reminding me of the love of God
Love confirms the truth. That’s why John encourages them to love one another.
2 John 5 “5 And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another.”
[Blank slide] Application: How do we help others to walk in the truth? We walk in love
Of course, we try to help them learn the truth directly: church, reading the Bible
Our actions, our everyday life, when done in love, points them to the truth of the gospel
Flipside: when we aren’t loving, people are less willing to hear from us
We help others walk in the truth when we walk in love.
That means:
As you walk in love at work (diligence, respect for colleagues, gratitude without grumbling), your behaviour shows that you believe in a God who really makes a difference in your life
As you walk in love at in your marriage (loyalty, kindness, service), you remind your spouse the loving relationship between Christ and the church
As you walk in love with your brothers and sisters in Christ, they experience the love of God through you and are encouraged to keep trusting in him.
We help others walk in the truth when we walk in love.
Now, what is that love?
Fill in v. 6.
2 John 6 “6 And this is love: ___”
2 John 6 “6 And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.”
Obedience to God’s commands
[Blank slide] Sometimes we think of God as a king who just gives arbitrary rules
God is our loving Creator, who gives us commands that help us to love others.
E.g., girl sharing toys
Every command is about love.
When I realise this, I don’t feel like I’m just obliged to follow them, I want to follow them, because I want to love others well.
I’m thankful that God has shown me how to love others.
Remember love is obedience to God’s commands helps us against distorted forms of love.
‘Making the other person happy’
‘Helping people live authentic lives’
Commands that speak into these situations
Praise God that he has shown us what love is.
What we are to do if we want to stick to the truth: walk in love
Point 2 about what we’re not to do
2, Don’t run ahead (vv. 7-11)
v. 7 - let’s come back to the context of John’s letter
Deceivers who deny Jesus’ humanity
2 John 7 “7 I say this because many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.”
Side note on ‘antichrist’
About denying Jesus’ humanity, not just his existence
v. 8 - danger
Danger of the readers falling away from the truth
Danger of Christians falling away from the truth
2 John 8 “8 Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully.”
How do we stick to the truth?
Analogy of tip and safe zones using “running ahead” language
v. 9 - teaching of Christ
2 John 9 “9 Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.”
Centrally the gospel
John 20:31 “31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
But includes all the teaching of Christ
All the Bible
[Blank slide] But what if we feel like the teaching of Christ isn’t enough?
Cause of danger of running ahead
False teachers today and back in John’s day
2 John 10–11 “10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take them into your house or welcome them. 11 Anyone who welcomes them shares in their wicked work.”
Not about not welcoming your non-Christian friend into your house
Jesus dined with tax collectors and “sinners”.
But about welcoming a teacher into a house church
Parallel with a guest preacher at our church
The false teaching is wicked because is denies the truth, so don’t engage with it.
Application
Be very careful of which teaching you engage with outside of church
So easily accessible
Ben Worth example - listening to YouTube videos undermining the Bible and now doesn’t believe in the divinity of Christ
Engage only with good material
Teaching of Christ - gospel-centred and aligned with the whole Bible
Marked by love
What if you still have questions and you aren’t satisfied with what you already know from the teaching of Christ?
Small vs big view of the teaching of Christ
The value of good podcasts, Christian books, etc.
Don’t run ahead. Stick to the teaching of Christ.
Conclusion
Ian Harber
Feedback with Bryson
Feedback with Bryson
25/06/2026, 23 minutes
Good
Ian Harber
Counting the number of times “truth” came up
Clear structure and transitions
Connection with John’s gospel
Big idea: Continue in the teaching of Christ
Safe zone illustration
Improve
Clarify “coming in the flesh” as Jesus’ incarnation
Unclear connections between the three points
Maybe focus on application
Do walk in love
Don’t run ahead
Don’t welcome false teachers
Maybe just have two points
Wordplay of walking vs running ahead
Maybe remove church attendance
Maybe transition from point 1 to point 2 might be about walking and running or what you should be doing vs what you shouldn’t do
More rhetorical/diagnostic questions
Maybe question about walking in love being the mark of sticking to the truth rather than the intellectual question about whether John shifts from truth to love
Show the link between walking in truth, walking in obedience, walking in love
Verse 7
Stronger emphasis on application in walking in love
Could clarify what the antichrist is
Sermon
Sermon
Intro
Intro
I recently read an article by a Christian named Ian Harber.
Ian Harber had lots of big questions about Christianity and about life.
But he couldn’t find good answers.
See, he had been taught the fundamentals.
God is our loving creator.
Jesus is our Lord and Saviour.
The Bible is God’s true and sufficient word.
But he had so many questions.
Why does it seem like there are so many contradictions in the Bible?
Shouldn’t the church be doing more in world politics?
Why is there so much unnecessary suffering?
Ian writes in his article:
“This triangle of questions—about Scripture, politics, and suffering—laid the foundation for me to explore progressive Christianity.”
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/progressive-christianity-shallower-evangelical-faith-i-left/
Progressive Christianity is about making progress.
It says we need to progress from the Bible because the Bible is outdated.
Our society has progressed.
And so we need to progress as well.
I suspect that Ian’s story might resonate with a few of us.
We have questions too.
Sometimes we doubt the Bible.
And we might try to look for some new truth.
At the same time, we also feel a pull in the other direction, to sticking with what we know.
If the gospel is true, then Jesus is the only way to be saved.
We don’t want to leave the only way to life.
So what are we to do?
When we do have these questions, how do we know the truth?
How do we stick to the truth?
Well this morning, we are learning from 2 John.
It’s the second letter of the apostle John, where he calls himself, “the elder”.
He’s writing to a church, who he personifies as a lady and her children.
And you can see right from the introduction that John cares about them knowing the truth.
Let’s read 2 John 1-3.
And while we read that, you can count how many times the word ‘truth’ appears in the introduction.
2 John 1-3.
1 The elder, To the lady chosen by God and to her children, whom I love in the truth—and not I only, but also all who know the truth—2 because of the truth, which lives in us and will be with us forever: 3 Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, will be with us in truth and love.
We’ve got the word ‘truth’ in this intro four times.
John really cares about his readers persevering in the truth.
So he writes about to things to do to help us persevere in the truth.
That’s what we’re going to see today.
Two actions for us to help us stick to the truth.
1, Walk in love (vv. 4-7)
2, Don’t run ahead (vv. 7-11)
1, Walk in love (vv. 4-7)
2, Don’t run ahead (vv. 7-11)
Let’s start with point 1.
1, Walk in love (vv. 4-7)
1, Walk in love (vv. 4-7)
Walk in love.
I remember one Friday night at youth group, I asked some of the youth a question.
“How do make sure we stick to the truth?”
They gave great answers.
“We should go to youth group, where we learn the truth.”
“We should go to church, because our pastors teach us the truth.”
“The truth is in the Bible, so we should read it.”
None of them talked about love.
I think it’s because many of us, not just the youth, many of us think that the way we stick to the truth is to gain more knowledge.
We think that gaining more knowledge is the solution.
And it definitely is part of the solution.
But what does John focus on first in helping his readers persevere in the truth?
Love.
He exhorts them to walk in love.
Let’s read verses 4 to 6 and see it’s all about love.
4 It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us. 5 And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. 6 And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.
Now, you might be wondering,
“Maybe John is now a different topic.
He wants them to stick to the truth.
And now he wants them to walk in love.
It’s just a different point.”
But John actually specifies the reason he’s talking about love.
Let’s read verse 7 to see why he’s saying so much about love.
7 I say this because many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.
John is saying that he’s commanding them to love because that love helps them not to fall into deception.
That love helps them to stick to the truth.
How does love help someone to stick to the truth?
Well it’s because love confirms the truth.
Love confirms the truth.
I enjoy listening to people’s testimonies about how they came to Christ.
One thing I hear over and over again is that someone was drawn to Christ through a loving Christian friend or family member.
The love of that Christian helped them to see the love of Jesus.
Love confirms the truth.
Jesus told us that the two greatest commandments are to love God and to love our neighbour.
And when we see our brothers and sisters loving God and loving our neighbour, then we see them taking seriously what Jesus taught.
Love confirms the truth.
Sometimes when I go through suffering, I know God is there but I feel like he’s absent.
And when I feel like God is absent but my brothers and sisters reach out to me in love, I am reminded of God’s love.
Their prayers, their words of comfort, and things like dropping off food remind me that I’m part of a family.
God’s family.
Again, love confirms the truth.
That’s why John tells them to love one another.
Let’s read verse 5.
5 And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another.
This means that if we want others to stick to the truth of the gospel, it’s just about just giving them more information.
If we want to help others walk in the truth, we walk in love.
Of course, we do help them learn the truth directly, whether that’s inviting them to church, reading the Bible with them, or something else.
But our actions, our everyday lives, when done in love, point others to the truth of the gospel.
The flipside is also true.
When we are unloving, we misrepresent God and people are less likely to believe the truth.
We help others walk in the truth when we walk in love.
That means...
As you walk in love at work
in your diligence at work, your respect for others, your gratitude when everyone else is grumbling
as you walk in love at work, your behaviour shows others that you believe in a God who really makes a difference in your life.
As you walk in love in your marriage,
in your loyalty, your kindness, and your service of your spouse,
you remind your spouse of the loving relationship between Christ and the church.
As you walk in love with your brothers and sisters in Christ, they experience the love of God through you.
And they are encouraged to keep trusting in him.
We help others walk in the truth when we walk in love.
Now, what is that love?
This is one of the few times in my life when I’m going to ask you not to look at your Bibles.
I’m going to put up the start of verse 6 and I’d like you to imagine what you would’ve written if you were John.
Verse 6 says:
[Don’t read]
6 And this is love: _________________________________
What would you put in there?
John puts in something some of us might find surprising.
Let’s read verse 6.
6 And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.
What is love?
It’s obedience to God’s commands.
That’s actually quite helpful for us to know because sometimes, we think of God as a king who just gives arbitrary rules.
Sometimes, we think that we just follow God’s commands because God has given these commands.
That’s okay but it’s only a small view of God.
A bigger view of God helps us see that God is our loving Creator who gives us commands that help us to love others.
It’s like how parents sometimes tell their young children to share their toys.
The child shares her toys just out of obedience is doing a good thing in obeying her parent.
But the child who can see that sharing her toys is the loving thing to do isn’t just obeying her parent.
She is seeing the why behind the parent’s command.
And that helps her to love others better.
It’s the same for us and God as well.
All of God’s commands help us to love him or to love others.
That’s why John says that love is obedience to God’s commands.
When we realise this, then we don’t feel like we’re simply obliged to follow God’s commands.
We want to follow them, because we want to love others well.
And we thank God that he has shown us in his commands how to love others well.
Knowing that love is obedience to God’s commands also pushes back on distorted views of love.
Some people think that love is making people happy.
There’s a lot of goodness in that.
But if I think that love is making someone happy...
I’ll avoid hard conversations because they’re not happy conversations.
I’ll avoid any sort of disagreement because I don’t want people to be unhappy.
I’ll avoid telling my friends about Jesus because that conversation might be uncomfortable.
Other people think that love is about empowering people to live their authentic self.
Again, there’s some goodness to that.
But if I’ve reduced love to helping someone express their true self,
I will support my friend who speeds because he wants to, even though I know it’s dangerous.
I will support my friend in her desire to find fulfilment in travelling the world, even though I don’t think that’s where she can find true fulfilment.
I will encourage my friend to follow whatever religion he wants, even though I believe that he’ll have to face God on Judgement Day.
It’s dangerous to try to figure out what love is by ourselves.
So praise God that he has shown us that love is obedience to his commands.
And that love confirms the truth.
So, brothers and sisters, as we persevere in the truth, as we try to help others persevere in the truth, let’s do that by walking in love.
And we know what that love is by obeying God’s commands.
That’s the first way stick to the truth and help others stick to the truth is to walk in love.
That’s what we are to do.
Now, as we go to the second point, we think about what not to do.
We’re at the second point.
2, Don’t run ahead (vv. 7-11)
2, Don’t run ahead (vv. 7-11)
Don’t run ahead.
Let’s come back to the context of this letter.
John’s readers are Christians.
But there are some people around them who aren’t Christian.
These people are teaching things that oppose Christ.
That’s in verse 7.
Let’s read verse 7.
7 I say this because many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.
As a side note, that word antichrist sometimes in movies to talk about a villain who brings about the end of the world.
That’s an exaggeration of what’s in the Bible.
In the Bible, that word only comes up in John’s letters and it’s just about people who are opposed to Christ.
Opposed to Christ.
Anti … Christ.
In this letter though, there’s a particular opposition to Christ.
These deceivers deny that Jesus came in the flesh.
And when John uses that phrase in his Gospel and his letters, he’s not talking about whether Jesus existed or not.
He’s talking about Jesus being human.
So it’s likely that these deceivers are saying that Jesus wasn’t really human.
Perhaps they taught that Jesus only appeared to be human.
What happens if we deny Jesus’ humanity?
Well it means that we deny the truth about Jesus.
It means denying Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.
As we know, it’s only through that sacrifice that we are saved.
And that’s why John gives his readers a warning about this teaching.
He doesn’t want them to lose that salvation.
Let’s read verse 8.
8 Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully.
In John’s context, his readers are in danger.
They are in danger of listening to false teaching and giving up their salvation.
And that’s a danger that’s still present today.
There’s lot of false teaching out there today that can pull us away from truth about Jesus, who saves us.
So how do we stick to the truth?
When I was in school, I played a game called tip.
In this game, there’s a safe zone, where others can’t get you out.
But if you run ahead of the safe zone, others can tag you and you’re out.
What’s the safe zone for us as Christians?
It’s the teaching of Christ.
That’s in verse 9.
Let’s read verse 9.
9 Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.
So if we’re to stay in the safe zone, we must stick to the teaching of Christ.
What is this teaching of Christ?
At its centre, there’s the gospel.
John is the author of this letter and John also wrote the Gospel of John.
And at the end of the Gospel of John, we read about why it’s written.
31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
At the centre of the teaching of Christ is the gospel.
Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God.
He died to take on our sins.
He rose to life again.
If we believe in him, we too have eternal life.
At the same time, the centre of something isn’t the whole thing.
The teaching of Christ isn’t just the gospel.
It includes everything else in the Bible as well.
And everything else in the Bible still ends up pointing us to Christ.
And yet… sometimes we might feel like the teaching of Christ isn’t enough.
Sometimes we have questions that we feel aren’t answered sufficiently.
Sometimes we have doubts.
And we might be tempted to look for truth outside of the teaching of Christ.
If that’s the case, then we need to know the danger of looking elsewhere.
We need to know what to do to protect ourselves from that danger.
And John gives us some instructions about how we protect ourselves.
Towards the end of the letter, John isn’t just telling his readers to listen to good teaching.
He’s even telling them how to avoid the false teachers.
Let’s read verses 10 and 11.
Verses 10 and 11.
10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take them into your house or welcome them. 11 Anyone who welcomes them shares in their wicked work.
This might sound a bit strange if it’s the first time you’ve read it.
Perhaps it sounds like you can’t even have your non-Christian friends over for dinner!
But Jesus dined with tax collectors and those who were called sinners.
We are called to love others, both those who do believe and those who don’t.
So these verses must mean something else.
Knowing the situation of the early church helps us interpret this correctly.
Back in that day, churches didn’t meet in school buildings or church buildings.
They were organic.
They met in houses.
So verse 10 is telling this house church not to welcome a false teacher and allow them to spread their false teaching in their church.
The parallel for us is not to welcome a false teacher and allow them to preach at our church.
What’s so bad about welcoming a false teacher?
Well verse 11 describes their false teaching as wicked.
It’s wicked because it pulls people away from Jesus and the life he brings and pushes towards death.
That wickedness must not be allowed.
We want people to trust in Jesus and have life, not death.
The most direct application for these verses is to make sure that we don’t bring in false teachers to preach at our church.
Tim has been given the responsibility of managing our preaching roster and he’s very intentional with who we invite to preach.
But what about the rest of us?
How do we apply these commands not to welcome and engage with false teachers?
Well in this information age, teaching is so accessible.
You can easily listen to podcasts, you can watch reels from another church, you can read articles that organisations have published...
This accessible teaching is both a blessing… and a great danger.
Earlier this year, I heard of a friend who used to call himself Christian.
But he engaged with YouTube videos that undermined the Bible.
And now he doesn’t believe that Jesus is the Son of God.
It’s tragic!
I still pray that he would come back to the faith.
In some sense, through these YouTube videos, he welcomed a false teacher into his house.
We must be careful that we don’t do the same when we engage with teaching outside of church.
We can’t be complacent and just listen and watch whatever.
We might hear good teaching on Sundays but be swayed Monday to Saturday through false teaching.
So how do you make sure that this doesn’t happen to you?
Well you strive to be intentional with who you listen to.
Be intentional with who you listen to.
That is, make sure whoever you’re listening to is continuing in the teaching of Christ.
Their teaching must match the gospel.
It must be aligned with the Bible’s teaching.
We also saw in point 1 that the truth is confirmed by love.
So whoever you listen to outside of church must be teaching in love.
Good teachers will disagree with their opponents’ position but still speak of them with love, so we must be wary of teachers who aren’t loving to their opponents.
But what if we still have questions that aren’t answered sufficiently by the teaching of Christ?
I suspect that when we feel like the teaching of Christ isn’t enough, we don’t know the full scope of the teaching of Christ.
We only know a small amount.
So when we have an unanswered question, it’s because we were looking for the answer in that small amount when the answer is actually somewhere else in the teaching of Christ.
So what do we do if we have an unanswered question?
Well we remember that the teaching of Christ is sufficient.
God has given us all the knowledge we need in the Bible.
And that helps us to ask the question with humility.
We then ask God for wisdom because God gives generously to those who ask.
We search the Scriptures for the answer.
We ask our brothers and sisters our questions, because God has given us a Christian family to help you persevere in the faith.
That’s where podcasts, Christian books, and all that come in as well.
They too can be part of the help we receive from our brothers and sisters in Christ.
As long as we’re sure that they are sticking to the teaching of Christ.
We check that what they are teaching matches the Bible.
Don’t run ahead.
Stick to the teaching of Christ.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Ian Harber was one of these Christians who had questions about his faith.
Questions about Scripture, suffering, and politics.
Unfortunately, he ran ahead and looked for answers outside of the teaching of Christ.
He discovered progressive Christianity.
Progressive Christianity seemed exciting at first.
The old stuff could be left behind.
There were new ways to engage with God and with the world.
But he ultimately found it dissatisfying.
It made bold promises of fulfilment and happiness but didn’t deliver.
It had no solid ground on which to stand.
Ian felt more unstable and uncertain than he began.
So he went back to explore what traditional Christianity taught.
But this time, he didn’t just rely on small view of Christianity that he previously had.
This time, he went deep.
And there, he found good answers.
I’ll read Ian’s words from the article.
For the first time I really learned the doctrines of the Trinity and of Scripture as a unified story, and how to read it as inspired literature. I was taught how doctrines that I assumed were contradictory—like penal substitution and Christus Victor—actually need each other to form the full, beautiful, biblical picture. I learned about union with Christ and all the blessings it brings. I learned about spiritual disciplines and the life-giving freedom that flows from a disciplined pursuit of God. From there, the wide and rich world of historic Christian orthodoxy swung open for me to explore.
Doubt and questions need not catalyze a pendulum swing from belief to unbelief. If worked out in healthy, thoughtful Christian community—and with an abiding connection to Christ, our true vine—they can actually deepen faith and strengthen roots, producing a life where we bear fruit and withstand the fierce winds of a secular age.
In other words, Ian learned more about the teaching of Christ.
And he found it… satisfying.
Good for the soul.
Good for loving others and loving God.
Let’s pray that we too will continue in the teaching of Christ.
Heavenly Father,
We thank you that you have shown us the truth in your word. You have revealed your Son to us as our Lord and Saviour and you’ve granted us faith in him. You have given us your good commands so that we can love others well. Thank you.
Father, we live in a world with both true and false teaching and we are tempted to listen to all sorts of voices. So help us to stick to the truth. Strengthen us to continue in the teaching of Christ. Give us the will and ability to live out that teaching. And we pray that we and those around us would stick to that teaching until the day when Jesus returns.
In his name,
Amen
