Ascension Presbyterian Lord's Day Worship

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He has girded himself with strength. Surely the world is established so that it cannot be moved.
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Oh, God, your throne is established from of old. You are from everlasting.
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The floods have lifted up a lord. The floods have lifted up their voice. The floods lift up their waves.
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The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, than the mighty waves of the sea.
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Your testimonies, oh, God, are very sure. Holiness adorns your house, oh,
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Lord, forever. Amen. Please pray with me. Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
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We rejoice that we have been called into your presence. We cling to your precious promises, knowing that you are our
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God and that we are your people. We ask that you would accept our worship.
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However feeble and weak it is, oh, Lord, because of the strength of Christ and the power of your
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Holy Spirit. Be glorified, we pray in Jesus name.
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Amen. Please prepare yourself now for the confession of sin.
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Let us confess our corporate sin together with one voice. Lord Jesus, I have sinned times without number.
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My sins and shortcomings present me with a list of accusations. But I thank you that they will not stand against me.
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For all have been laid on price. Deliver me from every evil habit, every interest of former sins, everything that dims the brightness of your grace in me, everything that prevents me from taking delight in you.
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Amen. Please stand. My sins, my shortcomings present me with a list of accusations, but we have a savior who is
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Christ the Lord. Receive now the assurance of pardon. We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
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This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all.
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If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
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But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another in the blood of Jesus Christ.
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His son cleanses us from all sin. Oh, people of God, take heart today.
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If you be in Christ, your sins are forgiven. Amen. Amen. Please turn now in the hymnal to number two hundred ninety seven.
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Two hundred ninety seven. All hail the power of Jesus name.
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Number two hundred ninety seven. Let us be good. Careful Psalm, Psalm of Moses.
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Let us sing it now. Please remain standing for the reading of the word from Genesis twenty two.
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Now hear the word of God. Genesis chapter twenty two. Now it came to pass after these things that God tested
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Abraham and said to him, Abraham. And he said, Here I am. Then he said,
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Take your take now your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, of which
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I shall tell you. So Abraham rose early in the morning and settled his donkey and took two of his young men with him and Isaac, his son.
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And he split the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which
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God had told him. Then on the third day, Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off.
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And Abraham said to his young men, Stay here with the donkey, the lad, and I will go yonder and worship and we will come back to you.
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So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it and laid it on Isaac, his son.
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And he took the fire in his hand and a knife. And the two of them went together.
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But Isaac spoke to Abraham, his father, and said, My father. And he said,
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Here I am, my son. Then he said, Look, the fire and the wood. But where is the lamb for the burnt offering?
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And Abraham said, My son, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering.
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So the two of them went together. Then they came to the place of which God had told him.
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And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order. And he bound
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Isaac, his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
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But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham.
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So he said, Here I am. And he said, Do not lay your hand on the lad or do or do anything to him.
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For for now, I know that you fear God since you have not withheld your son, your only son from me.
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When Abraham lifted his eyes and looked and there behind him was a ram caught in the thicket by his by its horns.
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So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.
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And Abraham called the name of this place. The Lord will provide. As it is said to this day and the mounts in the mounts of the
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Lord, it shall be provided. Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven.
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And said by myself, I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son.
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Blessing, I will bless you and multiplying. I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens and as the sand, which is on the seashore.
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And your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed my voice.
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So Abraham returned to his young men and they rose and went together to Bathsheba.
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And Abraham dwelt in Bathsheba. Now, it came to pass after these things that it was told
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Abraham saying, indeed. Milka also has born children to your brother,
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Nahor, has his firstborn, was his brother, Camille, the father of Aram, Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jedalef and Bethuel.
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And Bethuel begot Rebecca. These eight Milka bore to Nahor, Abraham's brother.
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His concubine, whose name was Ruma, also bore Teba, Gaham, Tasha and Meaca.
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This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Let us now confess our faith with the joyful singing of the
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Apostles Creed. Let us begin. I believe in God and see him come to judge the living and the dead.
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Believe in the Holy Spirit, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the dead.
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Please take up the hymnal once more and turn to number 599. Savior, like a shepherd, lead us.
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Five hundred ninety nine. Please make preparations now for the prayers of the people.
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We have the Ten Commandments today. So men, I need you to jump on the commandments.
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Let's pray together now with one voice. Oh, God, from whom come all holy desires, all good counsel and all just works.
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Give to us your servants that peace, which the world cannot give. Maybe set to obey your commandments and also that we be defended from the fear of our enemies.
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They live in peace and quietness through the merits of Jesus Christ, our savior, who lives and reigns with you and the
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Holy Spirit. God forever. Amen. The Lord says,
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I am the Lord, your God, you shall have no other gods before me.
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You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.
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Mercy on us all. Please give us grace to avoid this temptation.
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Father, I ask you to give us strength to not put things before you ever before God in our own lives.
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Father, I know that we are we are going to be idol making factories and to turn everything we keep to an idol.
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I pray that you would safeguard us, especially those who are gathered today in this church. You shall not take the name of the
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Lord, your God, in vain. Do not take the name, but take your name in vain.
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In the list of righteousness and by the word of the Holy Spirit, be as bright, be brightly on this day that we would be a holy people set apart.
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Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Have mercy on us and incline our hearts to keep this your law.
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And we remember that in six days you created the heavens, the earth, the sea and everything that's in them.
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And on the seventh day, you rested, giving us, Lord, a pattern. So we pray, Lord, that we follow you in this pattern that doesn't change.
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We ask God that when it comes to the Sabbath, you would grant us true rest and we truly fix our eyes on Christ and look forward to our eternal
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Sabbath rest with you. God, give us true rest, true rest to the fathers, true rest to these mothers that are working so hard.
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God, give true rest to our children. And we ask this in Jesus name. Amen. Honor your father and your mother.
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Lord, have mercy on us and incline our hearts to keep this your law. We recognize this is the first commandment given with a promise that our days may be long.
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We ask you to allow all of us to be more respectful of those that you have placed authority over us, especially our fathers and our mothers.
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Lord God, we thank you for the example that having children of our own can give us and the great work that mothers and fathers do for us.
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Father, I ask that we all be reminded of those who have sacrificed so much to nurture us and have the mission of the
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Lord. Father, I pray that we would honor those, even if our parents are unbelievers. Father, that we would show them the honor that is due their place and that in this honor they might see an example of your truth.
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In Christ's name we pray. Amen. You shall not kill. Have mercy on us and incline our hearts to keep this your law.
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You shall not commit adultery. Have mercy on us this your law.
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Especially if you are hardened. I pray, Lord, for husbands that they would make a covenant with their eyes like Job and be satisfied with their wife.
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I pray, Lord, that the wives here would be satisfied and delighted in their husbands. God, protect us from all forms of sexual sin and unfaithfulness.
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Protect, Lord, our unmarried people from fornication, which is evil.
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We know that no fornicators will inherit the kingdom of heaven. God, keep us,
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Lord, pure. And may we be an example to those around us. Give us this,
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God. Give us the joy of your creation in the rightful sense. When we ask this in Jesus' name, amen.
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You shall not steal. Have mercy on us and incline our hearts to keep this your law.
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You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. Have mercy on us and incline our hearts to keep this your law.
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And lead us not into a culture that is full of gross exaggerations and deceit. Father, that we be people who can be trusted and believable.
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And, Father, that our word would mean something. And it is a public tour for our Godness and our everyday relationship.
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Father, I ask that you would allow us to preserve the dignity of our neighbors and not spread false rumors about them.
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And, Father, I ask that you would allow us to be examples of this in our community. You shall not covet.
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Incline our hearts to keep this your law. Pray, God, that we pray to you for bestowing good gifts upon our brothers and sisters.
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That we be thankful. Love our brothers and sisters.
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You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul, mind, and strength.
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Have mercy on us and incline our hearts to keep this your law.
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Amen. Please stand and take up the insert. Find our Psalm of the
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Month. Psalm 119. This is the H selection of that long, very beautiful psalm.
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Psalm 119. Let us begin. Please turn in your
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Bibles to 1 John. We'll be reading verses 1 through 11.
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I want to remind you that this is God's inerrant, authoritative, sufficient, infallible word.
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Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
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By this you know the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God.
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And every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God.
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And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming and is now already in the world.
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You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
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They are of the world, therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them.
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We are of God, and he who knows God hears us. He who is not of God does not hear us.
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By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
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Now our text for today. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God.
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And everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know
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God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God had sent his only begotten
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Son into the world, that we might live through him. And this is love, not that we love
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God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
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Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
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Please pray with me now. O Lord, we thank you for your word, and we thank you for the splendor of your love revealed in the person
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Christ. We thank you for loving us, even though we have not loved you, and that our love now is a reflection of your love.
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O Lord, I pray that we would love you in spirit and in truth, and that we would love our brethren.
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Holy Spirit, I ask that you would work and move in our hearts to this end. It's in Jesus' name that we pray.
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Amen. Please be seated. The title of the message today is
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God So Loved Us, drawn from the last verse of our section in verse 11,
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God So Loved Us. And the theme of the message today, very simply, is
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Christ is the splendor of God's love. Christ is the splendor of God's love.
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And I've put the outline on the Slack channel if you need it for reference either now or later.
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First, I have three questions I hope to answer today. How do believers demonstrate a saving knowledge of God?
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First question, how do believers demonstrate a saving knowledge of God?
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Second, how does God manifest His love?
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How does God manifest His love? And third, what must you do in response to God's love?
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What must you do in response to God's love?
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Brethren, I am quite sure, based on our study in 1
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John, that the Lord is very eager for us to have a proper love for one another.
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It's abundantly clear that this is the message of the hour that He has for us.
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I'm thankful that this is our subject matter. I believe it comes at a very important time in the life of our body.
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We ought to love one another as a reflection of God's love to us.
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He loves us, therefore it necessitates that we love one another.
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Let's dive right into the exegesis of the text. If you look at the first word in chapter 7, it says,
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It says here again, a term of endearment from John to his hearers.
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He says, you are the ones who have divinely been loved by God.
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You are the ones who have experienced God's self -sacrificing love, that agape love.
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This is who you are, and this is the way that that John addresses us.
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And so it's important that I convey that to you as well, that you are divinely loved ones.
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Hear this message, you who have been loved by God, you need to hear the words that are being said.
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You have personally experienced God's love. And if you haven't, there's great hope today because in our text, we can find out just how to experience this love of God and that we could be called the beloved ones of God like John is to his hearers.
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It says, beloved, let us love one another. Now, this word is a form of that agape love that we've been talking about repeatedly in our section.
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And it means to actively do what the Lord prefers by his power and direction.
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So sentimental notions of love and feelings that we have sometimes diverge from the truth and reality of biblical love.
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God is love and he defines its terms. We need to love one another because this is the active doing of what the
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Lord prefers. We just read in prayed through the Ten Commandments.
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It's all about love. It's about loving God and loving our neighbor. It's at the very heart of God and his character.
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And it's also at the heart of our moral and ethical obligations and duties to one another.
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If we want to know what the mind of God is in an area, we have to ask the question, what is the
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God glorifying way, the Christ like way of love in this situation that I'm facing?
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True love is always defined by God. Always. This is used often in First John of the love of Christians towards one another.
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The same idea over and over again coming through loud and clear to us.
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Christians should love one another because this is pleasing in the sight of God. It speaks of the benevolence which
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God in providing salvation for mankind has exhibited in the sending of his son, the
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Lord Jesus Christ, and giving him up to death that he might show his love to the world in the sacrifice of his son.
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We trace the development. You'll remember a few times in recent years. So we go all the way back and asking questions about why does
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God save? Why does God show mercy? Why does he send Jesus?
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Why did he save you from his sins? And the answer that it terminates in is he loves us.
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That's the why. The reason there is salvation in the world.
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The reason that men can be reconciled to God plainly and simply is because of God's love.
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That's why there's salvation. And so it follows that this is so integral to God's character and his attributes that those who have been loved of him who could be called the beloved ones, they ought to love one another.
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It says in the second half of verse seven, everyone who loves as God defines it is born of God and knows
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God. This in birthing from God is very interesting.
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It's God conferring upon men the nature and disposition of sons.
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To be born into God's family is to have your name, your identity, your person.
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God confers upon you the nature and disposition of sons.
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And therefore, we bear the family resemblance of our elder brother, who himself is the embodiment of love, the
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Lord Jesus Christ. Everyone who loves. This question of how do we know who demonstrates a saving knowledge of God, sometimes we look for a good answer to the justification question.
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It's not a bad thing to do, but the test that John is emphasizing is the test of love.
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If we have been conferred, God has conferred upon us the nature and disposition of his sons.
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We will bear the resemblance and the likeness of his dear son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and our lives will be characterized by love.
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He imparts to us a real and genuine spiritual life by his own holy power.
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He prompts and persuades souls to put their faith in Christ and live a new life consecrated to himself.
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This is what it means to be born of God. The question of point one is answered.
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The first question, how do we know genuine faith? Distinguish it from a false belief.
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Everyone who loves is of God. True believers love one another.
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The one who loves demonstrates that he is born of God and he knows God. And this knowing is knowing through personal experience.
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It's not just knowing about. It's actually knowing. You and I can know about God and we can know about salvation.
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We can know about the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a whole different, deeper level of intimacy to know him in this way.
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This is personal experience. This is the word that Mary used when she was talking to the angel about the prophecy of the
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Messiah of Jesus being born from her in her womb. And she says, I have not known a man.
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I don't have that level of intimacy with a man. I don't know how
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I could be pregnant. That's the depth of this intimacy. This knowledge to know
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God in a true and profound and experiential way.
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You don't know God in this way. There's still hope for you coming in our text. What takes us to our next question?
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There's a transition given to us in verse 8. And the same truth of verse 7 is stated negatively.
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It says in verse 8, He who does not love does not know God for God is love.
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So if we could say it positively, everyone who loves is born of God, we have to say it negatively.
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He who does not love does not know God. And again, this definition of love is given to us in the scripture proceeding from the character of God himself.
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It says in verse 8 that God is love. I'm going to make much of that statement next week,
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Lord willing, because it reappears in verse 16 of our text.
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But I'll just say this. The way in which we say God is holy or omnipotent or omnipresent or just or good or all of those descriptors of God, we can say it about love.
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God doesn't just love. He himself is love. He doesn't just look holy.
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He is holy. It's very much tied to his essence in his person and we'll develop this more and put a pen in it for next week.
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For God is love. It comes from his character. So that which is contrary to love is contrary to God.
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God is love. But now we get to the part
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I'm most eager to look at. The second question, how is
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God's love proven? How is God's love manifested? Children, look at the text and see if you can answer the question.
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How is God's love manifested? Well, it says it here in our text for us in this.
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The love of God was manifested toward us. Are you ready for it?
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That God has sent his only begotten son into the world. That we might live through him.
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Oh, that we should give thanks that we read Genesis 22 today. What a great kind providence in our liturgy.
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Abraham was called of God to take his son Isaac to the altar and to offer him there.
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And God provided a ram caught in the thicket. And so the angel of the
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Lord says to Abraham, I know that you love me. I know that you believe me because you've not withheld your son, your only son.
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Abraham doesn't have to go through with it. The sacrifice of the ram is provided.
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How great is the love of God for us? Where Jesus Christ goes to the altar of the cross.
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And there is no substitute. God goes through with it. In his mercy, he spares
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Isaac, but he does not spare. He does not withhold his son, his only begotten, his beloved son.
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And he puts him on the cross for our sin and our death and our shame and our guilt.
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You and I know nothing of this kind of sacrificial love, but God has demonstrated his love.
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God has manifested his love. He's proven his love for us in the sacrifice of his son.
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He sent his only begotten son into the world.
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Begotten is monogamous. And think about all of that, the creeds and all the
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Christological heresies. We touched on that last week. It'd be helpful to read the definition of Chalcedon.
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Remember the Nicene Creed again, the Athanasian Creed. The church has labored and toiled to preserve this doctrine.
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It seems that John, even at this early date, is eager for us to understand that the one who came in the flesh is the
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Lord from heaven. Without a difference of two different persons.
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He is one person, but he is both God and man. He has two natures in one person.
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He wants us to know that he is the only begotten and he has sent him into the world.
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He has sent him on this mission that you and I might live through him.
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He doesn't want us to stay in our death. He doesn't want us to stay in our sin.
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He wants us now to have a spiritual resurrection from the dead.
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He wants to number us among his people. He wants to commune with us.
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He wants to make his home with us and he wants us to dwell with him forever.
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And he wants us to have a bodily resurrection, just like our trailblazer, the author of our salvation, has had in his resurrection.
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Oh, the love of God for the people of God. He doubles down.
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Look at verse 10 and he says, and this is love.
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Not that we love God, but that he loved us.
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There's a great country song that says in the lyrics, do you love me?
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Check yes or no. And little boys and little girls, they start to have feelings for one another.
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They like to feel out and whether the other person likes them or not. If God were to pass us the note to check the box, our answer is no.
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Do you love me? The answer is no. And for little teenage romances, that ends it because I'm only going to love you if you like me back.
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We say no to God. We don't love you. By our sin, our rebellion, our fail to honor him or fail to worship him.
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Our natural tendency is to say, no, God, we don't love you. And he says, it's okay.
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I love you anyway. This is love.
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Not that we love God, but that he loved us. And sent his son.
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It's another thing that we need to think about here in verse 10. When we are at odds with someone, we want them to repent and we want them to come to us and apologize.
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In order that the process of reconciliation might start.
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But God doesn't do that. The offended party steps forward and he enacts, he brings to pass the reconciliation.
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We don't know this kind of love because if we're offended, we wait. We want them to come to us.
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We are the offending party. God is the one who has been offended and he approaches us.
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He sends his son to save us and to redeem us. What wondrous love is this?
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The offended party enacts, performs, fulfills all that's needed for reconciliation.
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Oh, the wondrous love of God. The splendor of God's love in the person of Jesus Christ.
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The offended one offers the one who needs to be appeased.
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He offers the appeasement, Christ. The one who needs to be reconciled to sends the reconciliation in the person and work of Christ.
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God loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation, the reconciliation of our sins.
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Christ's atoning blood appeases God's wrath by the sacrifice of himself.
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To the unbeliever, he enters into eternity facing the just wrath of God.
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Be reconciled to God. He sent his son in the world to bring life.
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Be reconciled to God. He sent Christ into the world to satisfy divine justice, to appease his wrath.
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Be reconciled to God. God has sent his son for this very purpose.
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And so the logic follows. And the last question in point three has to be asked.
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What should we do? What must we do in response to God's love?
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Look at verse 11. It said, Beloved, if God so loved us, and oh, he has loved us, we also ought to love one another.
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The next time you're offended and you've been hurt, run to the offending party and show them the love of God in Christ.
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What a different world that would be. The next time you give offense, remember that Christ has come to forgive you, to save you, to wash you.
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Be reconciled to him. Repent quickly when you offend. Be eager to restore those broken relationships.
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And this phraseology love one another is the most common of all of the biblical one another's.
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And I could argue, I should say, I am arguing that it is actually all the other one another's are applications of loving one another.
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Let's listen to a few of them taken right from Scripture. Honor one another.
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What must you do to in response to God's love for you?
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It says in our text we are to love one another. So we're considering the love one another's and the other one another's of Scripture.
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Honor one another. Greet one another. Welcome one another.
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Show hospitality to one another. Have fellowship with one another. Agree with one another.
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Live at peace with one another. Be kind to one another. Forgive one another.
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Bear with one another. Bear one another's burdens. Comfort one another.
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Care for one another. Confess your sins to one another. Pray for one another.
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Encourage one another. Build one another up. Exhort one another.
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Instruct one another. Teach and admonish one another. Sing to one another.
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Stir up one another to love and good works. Do good to one another. Serve one another.
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Wash one another's feet. Wait for one another. Be humble toward one another.
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Submit to one another. Speak the truth to one another. Do not speak against one another.
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Do not judge one another. Do not provoke one another. Do not envy one another.
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That's how you love one another. You do those things. Today we consider
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Christ the manifestation, yea, the splendor of God's love.
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And we're about to approach the table now. This expression of Christ's sacrifice, of our union with him, and of our bond to one another because of this great work he has done.
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See how beautiful and fitting that this would be the culmination of our time of covenant renewal in light of these things.
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A few words of application to close and we'll move to the
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Lord's Supper now. Is your life characterized by love for God, the fruit of which is your love for one another?
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Say, I love God, I love talking theology. Do you love one another?
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You need to act on that. You need to repent and sharpen your focus or change your direction.
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You need to show your love for the brethren. Christ was sent that you might believe and be reconciled to God.
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I'm asking every Christian today to believe the gospel again. We need the gospel every
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Sunday. Believe the gospel again. If you are not a believer today in the
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Lord Jesus Christ, it's a beautiful occasion.
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Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved. Put your trust in him.
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He was sent for this very purpose to give you life to atone for your sins.
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Believe the gospel again. Believe it for the first time. Take it out and share it with the lost of this world.
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And finally, ask the question and ask the Lord to reveal to you how can you more actively love the people of God?
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How can you practice those one another's? Amen. Let's pray together now.
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Oh Lord, we rejoice in your word and we thank you,
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Lord, for the inescapable reality of your call upon our lives through your word today.
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We are called to love one another as an expression of our love for you.
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Oh Lord, I pray that you would grant us this, that we would change, that we would love one another appropriately.
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We ask you in your power of your spirit to work in us to make these changes for the good of your church corporately and for the good of our families and our members individually.
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Oh Lord, help us to lay down our interest and sacrifice our own desires for the good of the brethren.
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Help us to lay down our lives for our friends.
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We ask this all in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's continue our worship with the presentation of tithes and offerings.
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Please stand and let's pray together now. Oh Lord, we thank you for the stewardship of life that you've given to us.
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We pray that we'd be industrious and diligent in our labors, that we'd be good stewards of the resources you've provided for us, and also that we'd be cheerful givers to the work of your church.
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We ask that you would enable us to use these tithes and offerings for the advance of your kingdom for the glory of Christ.
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We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Now give glory to God in the singing of the
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Gloria Patri. Let us begin. Glory be to the
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Father. Lift up your hearts.
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Let us give thanks to the Lord. It is right and a good and joyful thing that we should at all times and in all places give thanks to you, oh
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Holy Lord, Father Almighty, Everlasting God, because you sent your beloved
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Son to redeem us from sin and death and to make us heirs in him of everlasting life, that when he shall come again in power and great triumph to judge the world, we may without shame or fear rejoice to behold his appearing.
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Therefore, with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven, we praise and magnify your glorious name, evermore praising you and singing.
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We thank you for loving us.
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We are in many ways unlovable, but you have loved us and purchased us off the slave market and removed all of our guilt and shame and washed us and made us white as snow.
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Oh Lord, we rejoice and give thanks. We thank you, oh Lord, for the institution of the sacrament, where you give us bread and wine and we eat and we recognize and discern the body and blood of Christ crucified for us.
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Lord, we rejoice that you've been so kind to give us this good gift. Oh Lord, we pray that you would give it full vent in our lives today, that it would nourish us and strengthen us and bind us to you and to one another, and we ask all this in Jesus' name, amen.
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Our Lord Jesus, on the night in which he was betrayed, took bread. Likewise, he took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood.
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Drink from it, all of you, for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the
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Lord's death until he comes. Therefore, we proclaim the faith.
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Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. Let's come to the table now or approach the table with this prayer with a fleeting moment of sobriety and seriousness, eclipsed by joyful expectation to receive blessing from the hand of God.
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Let's pray together. We do not presume to come to this, your table, oh merciful
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Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in your manifold and great mercies.
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We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under your table, but you are the same
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Lord who always shows mercy. So to eat the flesh of your dear son,
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Jesus Christ, to drink of his blood, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body and our souls washed through his most precious blood and that we may evermore dwell in him and he in us, amen.
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Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore, let us keep the peace.
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The gifts of God for you, the beloved people of God. I'm in need of Jesus, God.
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Let us now make this commitment together.
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Almighty and everliving God, we thank you for feeding us with the spiritual food from the most precious body and blood of your son, our savior,
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Jesus Christ, and for assuring us in these holy mysteries that we are living members of the body of your son and heirs of your eternal kingdom.
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And oh Lord, grant us this other benefit, that you will never allow us to forget these things, but having them imprinted on our hearts, may we grow and increase daily in the faith which is at work in every good deed.
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Now Father, send us out to do the work you have given us to do, to love and serve you as faithful witnesses.
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Christ, our Lord. To him, to you, and to the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory now and forever.
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Amen. Please stand. Let us begin.
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Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do his will, working in you what is well -pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever.