Expressing the Love of Christ. 6/12/22

Weekly Memory Verse: "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey His commandments..." - 1 John 5:2

Sermon Scripture Reading: John 13:31-35

-THIS SUNDAY'S SERMON-

Expressing the love of Christ

River Family, it is our prayer that the Lord will grow us in being single-minded in gospel living. Over the past few weeks we have looked to God's Word to better understand what this means. One important aspect to gospel living is Expressing the Love of Christ. So, what does it mean to express the love of Christ? What does it look like to express the love of Christ? What is the main direction of the love of Christ to be expressed?

In preparation for the next two Sundays, please spend time in prayer and study of 1 John chapters 2-5. John wrote this letter to the churches of Asia Minor. False teachers grew up in the church and began bringing "new ideas" and false doctrines to the church. Through their teachings, Gnosticism grew, in which:

there was belief that sin in the body did not effect the spirit, therefore, they denied sin even existed.

there were those who believed they had a higher truth, who had a mystical knowledge that was higher than scripture.

the false teachers did not love the body, instead they worked to separated the body and despise those who did not agree with them.

So, you can understand John's emphasis on:

walking in the light, obeying the Lord's commands abiding in the Lord having fellowship with one another and loving one another (this will be our focus over the next two Sundays).

As Paul prayed for the church of Philippi, we pray for The River Family - "And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment..."

Grace and Peace,

Eric