This Is Only a Test (10 of 14)
Series: Authentic Christianity
Jim Perdue
1 John 4:1-6
Intro/Attention
We continue in our series entitled Authentic Christianity as we study through the book of 1 John. Today we come to the first six verses of chapter four and we realize that John is giving us a test. And today, I want to talk about the subject, This is Only a Test. READ TEXT
John has given several tests throughout this book to determine the authenticity and validity of our faith. We've seen the true/false test, the test of love/hate, light/darkness and Christ/antichrists. And although this is only a test, it is an essential test and an important test. And there are only two answers. This test is to determine if a teaching or a belief is from God or if it is not from God. In other words, when you read, hear or see some spiritual teaching you must seek to discern, what is the source of this?
If I were to hand you a cup with some liquid in it and said ''here, take a drink.'' Most likely, you'd want to know what the liquid was before you ingested it. If I had some food on a fork and said, ''take a bite,'' you'd probably want to know what the food was. And you would be smart. You'd want to know where it came from (the source) and how it would affect you (the outcome). The same is true with spiritual food!
Really, this is the idea of discernment and understanding. God's Spirit places this inside of you at the point of conversion. So when you hear a preacher or a teacher speaking spiritual truth, you must determine if the teaching is from God or not.
From this passage, we can infer that there are other spirits that can and do influence people in their speech, teachings, and actions. And it's our job to discern and follow God's Spirit.
Here in 1 John 4:1-6, we see several questions that are asked on this test; and these are questions that we must ask as well. But the good part is, the answers are in the textbook!
What does it mean to test the ...
Series: Authentic Christianity
Jim Perdue
1 John 4:1-6
Intro/Attention
We continue in our series entitled Authentic Christianity as we study through the book of 1 John. Today we come to the first six verses of chapter four and we realize that John is giving us a test. And today, I want to talk about the subject, This is Only a Test. READ TEXT
John has given several tests throughout this book to determine the authenticity and validity of our faith. We've seen the true/false test, the test of love/hate, light/darkness and Christ/antichrists. And although this is only a test, it is an essential test and an important test. And there are only two answers. This test is to determine if a teaching or a belief is from God or if it is not from God. In other words, when you read, hear or see some spiritual teaching you must seek to discern, what is the source of this?
If I were to hand you a cup with some liquid in it and said ''here, take a drink.'' Most likely, you'd want to know what the liquid was before you ingested it. If I had some food on a fork and said, ''take a bite,'' you'd probably want to know what the food was. And you would be smart. You'd want to know where it came from (the source) and how it would affect you (the outcome). The same is true with spiritual food!
Really, this is the idea of discernment and understanding. God's Spirit places this inside of you at the point of conversion. So when you hear a preacher or a teacher speaking spiritual truth, you must determine if the teaching is from God or not.
From this passage, we can infer that there are other spirits that can and do influence people in their speech, teachings, and actions. And it's our job to discern and follow God's Spirit.
Here in 1 John 4:1-6, we see several questions that are asked on this test; and these are questions that we must ask as well. But the good part is, the answers are in the textbook!
What does it mean to test the ...
There are 9745 characters in the full content. This excerpt only shows a 2000 character sample of the full content.
Price: $5.99 or 1 credit
