Confident - Joy
Notes
Transcript
Confidence
Confidence
What does being confident look like?
Defined - feeling or showing certainty about something
Of all persons the Christian should be best prepared for whatever the New Year brings. He has dealt with life at its source. In Christ he has disposed of a thousand enemies that other men must face alone and unprepared. He can face his tomorrow cheerful and unafraid because yesterday he turned his feet into the ways of peace and today he lives in God. The man who has made God his dwelling place will always have a safe habitation. - A.W. Tozer
Confidence
Confidence
How does this work in faith
I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
There are things that just are - whether we believe or accept them
There are things we can know an be certain
There are things we take by faith
In all of it we can be confident.
Over next few weeks we are going take a deep dive into 1 John
Have confidence in following God, know ing He hears us, we can hear Him, love wins.
Today we are going to look how we can be confident in what God has done for us and that we can live in joy.
Turn to 1 John and let’s pray
Story of 1 John
John is much older when he wrote this - most believe this 30-40 years after Christ has left
Growing persecution from Rome on the outside
On the inside- false teaching is rising
Gnosticism - gnosis meaning knowledge - they were granted special secret knowledge
Denied the incarnation of Jesus and said he was just a spirit, not fully man and God.
By being confident in who Christ is and what He has done we find Joy
Joy is deeper than happiness and is not based on circumstances
It is a promised fruit of following Him
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things.
John says this is one of the reasons he wrote the letter
We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
What is required for Joy?
Joy requires
1 An absolute conviction that God is good.
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in him.
Joy requires
1 An absolute conviction that God is good.
I told you there are things that just are - this is one of them
No matter your opinion, understanding, or belief - God is good
His goodness is not dependent on us or what we do.
Always hear - Why did God do this? or Why did God allow this?
We live in a broken world and we live in the consequences of that.
Everything works to the good of those who love Him - not everything that happens is good
Joy requires
2. We must walk in the light.
If we say, “We have fellowship with him,” and yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
Joy requires
2. We must walk in the light.
One commentator put it this way:
The Teacher’s Commentary 166: 1 John 1:1–2:2—Walking with God
Our values, our behavior, our attitudes, our commitments must be in harmony with God’s character rather than with the natural passions of fallen humanity.
We need to look more and more like Jesus
We can not say we love Him and not be obedient
Also notice it is the thing that ties us to Him and each other
If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
it is our common ground
“Although my memory's fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior.”
― John Newton
Joy requires
3. We must admit that we are sinners
If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
Joy requires
3. We must admit that we are sinners
We admit we have an issue we cannot fix
We begin a journey that as we walk more in the light, more is exposed.
We still have the capacity to sin, but it is that fullness we talked about that enables us to not
Everyday we have choices - we must admit we cannot make the right one but,....
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Confidence
Confidence
We can be confident in the Joy we live in and is available
It all starts with the understanding that He is God and I am not
Letting God do His work in our lives as we trust and obey Him
“I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I want to be, I am not what I hope to be in another world; but still I am not what I once used to be, and by the grace of God I am what I am”
― John Newton
Confidence
Confidence
This morning we will take communion together as a response
As the band plays and the elements are passed ask you to do 2 things;
Acknowledge that God is God
Admit and confess anything that is not of God and trust His forgiveness
Let’s pray