3 John. The apostle John wrote his third letter to a close friend and one of the main points, the main point we want to make this morning, is to “Imitate Good”. Verse 11 of 3 John simply says, “do not imitate evil but imitate good”. John makes it very clear: followers of Jesus are to imitate is that which is good, not evil. There are a lot of things to imitate in our culture, but the Bible says we’re to make sure the things we imitate are good. “Good” here means what is upright and acceptable to God. It’s not just whatever you say is “good”.

2 John. Love letters are less common today than they used to be. Today people would more likely text or direct message, but there is something nice about a written letter. 2 John is a unique kind of letter. The apostle John wrote to another congregation while he lived in Ephesus like he was writing to a woman he loved. In 2 John we find that John immediately speaks of “the truth”. John wrote in his first letter about following God’s truth and not being deceived and falling away from the truth. Truth is very important. You can’t know God without knowing his truth. You can’t be saved without learning of God’s truth. And you can’t maintain your salvation, as John has explained, without remaining faithful to God’s truth.

1 John 5:1-21. Like the last few words of wisdom you might give in a conversation with someone you care about, John closes his letter with essentially one main point: Hold on to your faith. John explains how Christians can know they have eternal life. He then reminds us we need to believe in Jesus as he is revealed by God in Scripture. And finally, John writes some things about holding on to our faith with a surprising ending.

William Chen visited us to share about his mission work with the Chinese Bible School and preached during worship on the subject of "Christian Giving". He showed us the nine different words in the New Testament Greek that are used for various forms of giving and how Christians share in the work of communicating the gospel and worshiping God in various forms of giving.

1 John 4:1-21. John is writing to Christians who have seen several fall away, believing in false doctrines, and he writes to urge them to remember the gospel they first heard, to be faithful to God, and to remember his great love. John gives us a litmus test for your spiritual condition. He says if you say you love God, the true test of that is if you love others. Loving others shows that God’s love has changed you.

1 John 3:11-24. John returns to the subject of love again and reminds his readers that they’ve heard that they’re supposed to love one another from the very first time they heard the gospel of Jesus, and he’ll prove how important loving one another is in this passage. Here’s one of the main points John makes: Loving one another proves we love Jesus.

1 John 2:18-3:10. We've all seen the TV shows where the main character develops amnesia after some trauma to the head and they can't remember who they are, their family, or what they're supposed to be doing. While it's a far-fetched depiction of amnesia, it raises a question for Christians. Is it possible for Christians to develop spiritual amnesia? In our passage today, we see that John wrote to these Christians to urge them to remember who they were in Christ and abide in him, not being deceived by false teachers.

1 John 2:1-17. Think about what you do for someone close to you to express your love for them. It could be any number of things. Do certain chores around the house, take them out to eat, buy them something special. What is it you like for others to do for you to show their love for you? In his gospel, John recorded these words of Jesus in Jn. 14:15, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." Jesus says to his disciples this is how you show me you love me. John also wrote about that in our text for this morning.

1 John 1:1-10. Love and faith are two things that are very important to many people. In our last days and moments, what will matter most to us is the people we love and our faith in God. There are a whole lot of people who claim to be Christians but walk in darkness. They do what they want to do, talk like the world, and you can’t tell by looking at their life or their social media that they’ve ever heard of Jesus. In other words, John is saying, you can say you’re a Christian all you want, but if you walk in darkness you’re lying and are not in fellowship with Christ and his church. Here’s the good news, the other side of the coin. If we choose to stay walking in the light, then we remain in fellowship with Christ and his church. It’s our choice. We have continued access to forgiveness of sins.

1 Corinthians 15:1-4. In this stand-alone sermon, we look at a basic way to explain the gospel to someone and look at how people in the Bible responded to the good news of Jesus when they believed in him. There's certainly more to study and discuss, but this provides a few Scriptures and points that can be memorized and shared.

Ephesians 6:10. Bro. Robert Hall with India Mission visited this morning and preached a powerful sermon about being strong in the Lord.

Matthew 16:26. Think of the needs you have in your life. Think of the needs of the people around you. We could come up with a long list of real needs. Add to that all the human suffering and struggles around the world and it’s overwhelming, isn’t it? This is the last lesson in this series about progressive Christian beliefs. Remember, by progressive we mean to progress beyond, to go beyond what Scripture teaches. We’re looking at the belief that this life matters more than the afterlife. It says the afterlife, if it is real, will take care of itself if we spend all our effort fighting injustice and alleviating suffering. That this is the Christian’s highest call. What should a Christian believe? What does the Bible say?

1 Corinthians 12:12. “You do you”, “Live your truth” are some phrases you’ve heard and things many people believe are words to live by. Today’s culture puts great value on independence and individuality; on doing what you want to do; following your personal interests, desires, and goals because they are always more important than the group. The progressive Christian belief that says the individual matters more than the group, and the church stifles individuality and wants conformity. What should Christians believe?

1 Timothy 4:16. Progressive Christianity prioritizes morality over doctrine. It says how you live, how you behave is more important that what you believe. That what really matters to God is that you’re a good and gracious and kind person and the particulars about what you believe don’t matter near as much. What if teaching people good theology, good doctrine, where they understood the Word of God thoroughly is not the problem, but is actually the solution?

This Sunday morning was our Back-to-School service and our Youth Minister, Kenley Dover, preached about being ready to hold on to your faith.

1 Timothy 1:15-16. Imagine if Jesus came to earth just to affirm our worth and value and to say we’re fine just how we are. Even better, Jesus loves us for who we are and he’s going to help us reach our potential on earth. Did Jesus come to affirm you and help you fulfill your potential, or did he come to redeem you from sin?

Philippians 3:20. Was Jesus just a moral teacher? Was he just a wise sage giving philosophical advice to help you live your best life now? Or was Jesus more than that? Progressive Christianity tells us that Christianity is about us being good and kind, and that God just wants us to be happy. The belief is that God isn’t too involved in our daily lives, but he’s there for us if we need him or want something from him. The problem is that this watered-down version of Christianity strips Christianity of its Christ. This then, isn’t biblical Christianity at all, it’s a deepfake version. It might sound like and look like Christianity, but it’s not Christianity.

There are three things God doesn’t do when it comes to our sin: 1. God doesn’t deal with us according to our sins. 2. God doesn’t repay us according to our iniquities. 3. God doesn’t count our iniquity against us. Why does God not deal with us according to our sins, and repay us according to our sin, and count our sins against us? Because on the cross, God dealt with Jesus according to our sins. He repaid Jesus for our sins, and he counted our sins against Jesus. This forgiveness from God is gained by being in Christ. The, we live to praise and glorify God!

Isaiah 43:25. Do you remember the Etch-a-Sketch toys? You could be creative and detailed, or just play around with it. And if you messed up, what could you do? Erase it, right? Shake it a little and everything would be gone, and your screen was clear. In a similar way, that’s what God does with our sins. We’re going to look at Isaiah 43:25 where the Bible says God has blotted out your sins.

Psalm 32:1-2. 2. Psalm 32 was written by David and written after Psalm 51, the most well-known psalm of confession that David wrote after his sin against Bathsheba and Uriah. It’s highly likely that David wrote Psalm 32 about the same event and is looking back at his terrible sin and remembering God’s forgiveness. David expresses the severity of sin and the magnitude of God’s forgiveness. He wants to express that no matter how terrible your sin is, God’s forgiveness is thorough and complete. God’s forgiveness is so powerful it cleanses you from all forms of sin. God forgiving us of our sins is the greatest blessing we could ever receive because it means you’re not lost in your sins. It means you have an eternal home with God in heaven. True happiness comes from knowing your sins are forgiven.