Dear Church Family, In most religions one must “do” in order to “be.” That is to say, most religions are works-based – you have to do things in order to become a new person or gain a reward. The Christian faith, however, is the exact opposite: one must “be” in

Dear Church Family, Quick Review Just a quick review of what we’ve learned and where we’ve been thus far in our study of 1 John. John’s first epistle teaches us about the three main aspects of the Christian life. And, the second chapter of 1 John covers all three emphases

Dear Church Family, As we’ve seen, John’s first epistle teaches about the three main aspects of the Christian life. And, the second chapter of 1 John covers all three emphases of this letter. The first part of this chapter (1 John 2:1-6) emphasizes the important of right morality and learning to walk

Dear Church Family, In the second chapter of his first epistle, the Apostle John talks about the importance or right affections or right relationships. Unfortunately, many people believe that what or who a person loves is outside of his or her control. Surely, you’ve heard this sentiment: “I can’t help

Dear Church Family, As we’ve seen, the first main part of 1 John (1:5-2:6) is about obedience and right morality. God’s Word calls us to examine ourselves (1 John 1:5-10), examine Christ (1 John 2:1-2), and examine our calling to keep and obey God’s commandments (1 John 2:3-6). The Apostle

Dear Church Family, After the prologue of his first epistle (1 John 1:1-4), the Apostle John writes to his fellow believers in order to help them grow in sanctification and cease from sinning (1 John 2:1). So, he first calls us to self-examination: believers ought to remember that they are “in

Dear Church Family, Following the prologue of John’s epistle (1 John 1:1-4), the first section of the main body of this letter runs from 1 John 1:5 to 1 John 2:6. And, the main emphasis of this section is sanctification – how to cease from sinning and grow in obedience to God’s Law.

Dear Church Family, In our continuing study of 1 John, in our previous installment, we saw how the main emphasis of the first section of the main body of this letter (1 John 1:5-2:6) is sanctification – how to cease from sinning and to grow in obedience to God’s Law. In

Dear Church Family, Presently, we are living in a time in which many people are afraid and have doubts about the future. I’ve often found television news to be depressing and anxiety building, but it’s gotten even worse. With many people not being able to go into work, losing their

Dear Church Family, In the first installment and introduction to our study of 1 John, we learned that the purpose of this letter was to help believers gain assurance of salvation: “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know