Be With Me: 7 Minutes of Biblical Wonder
Be With Me is a daily 7 minute chronological walk through the New Testament hosted by Michael Smith. It is for everyone who is curious about what Jesus actually said and did in the gospels. Most episodes will leave you with at least one good thought to chew on for the rest of the day. We start with the Bible and hopefully end with Awe. We are walking through the chronological events of Jesus' life and then thoughtfully considering them. It is meant to spur the devotional life of the Christian and the not-yet-Christian. We occasionally venture into the Old Testament when it helps our understanding of the New Testament events. Everybody has 7 minutes. Everybody needs to wonder. Be With Me is hosted by Michael Smith who has absolutely no special qualifications to do a podcast. He is not a pastor. He has not been to seminary. He does not lead a mega-church. He is not a professional and he has no more credentials than you do. He does, however, follow a great God with an observant eye and a curious heart. Each day, he starts with a study bible and aims for astonishment. ‘be with him’ for 7 minutes as he sets out daily to discover the God who invites us to ‘Be With Me.’
Be With Me: 7 Minutes of Biblical Wonder
1st John Is A Love Story S24e18 1Jn5:2
The heart of God is in His people. My heart must be in His people if I want to be in the center of His will. I must be loving those that God has demonstrated an interest in.
Being smack dab in the heart of God=being smack dab in the heart of His people=being smack dab in His will.
People of course are sometimes inconvenient and tiresome. But so are raising children, and both are THE GOOD STUFF of life.
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Good morning, my brothers and sisters, welcome to episode 18. In the book of First John, we're starting chapter five today. Now first John is a love story. And that's going to be my title today is that first John is a love story. So yesterday, the the important verse, not that they're not all important was for 19. We love because he first loved us. So the love of God that we can't see is equates with the love of the brotherhood that we can see. So first, John, is this love story, and he moves, he moves towards us initially, he helps us in our belief, and he helps us to be born again. And then he helps us with every date after that he helps us with not just conversion, but the ongoing process of sanctification. And today, he's going to equate three things by this transitive property of spiritual addition, which is loving the Almighty, that's the a loving the body, that's the B, and then loving his commands. That's the C and you remember the transitive property of addition, which is if A equals B, and B equals C, then A equals c. So the three things is the love of the Almighty love of the people of God, and love the commandments of God, those are all going to be very tightly seen together. And he's going to equate them with each other today in the first five verses of chapter five. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. So there we see God moving towards us. And everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. So whoever loves the Almighty loves the, the body of Christ. Verse two, by this we know that we love the children of God, love the body of Christ. When we love God, love the Almighty and obey his commandments, obey the things he has, he has said, See, verse three, for this is the love of God. This is the love of the mind of the Almighty, that we keep his commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith, who is it that overcomes the world, except one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? All right, so let's talk math here a minute spiritual math, the transitive property of addition, if A equals B, and B equals C, then A equals C, which is to love God, love the Almighty, love the body of Christ, love his children, and love us commands. And we're going to see that eventually there's no daylight between the three of them. Remember, what God commands are, eventually are to love the body that has been it's been that way since Leviticus, love your neighbor. And then at the Last Supper, where Jesus says, you know, love as I have loved you. And remember, loving God's children is initially at their conversion, but also in their, in their sanctification. It's one of the reasons why we go to Real church is to see conversions, and then to see the sanctification and love it. That is to be loving what God is doing in people. So it's in church that we see real people, and loving real people. And that's where we see the love of the real God. So this transitive property, if loving the Almighty, equals loving his commands, and loving his commands is loving his people. Alright, so what does this transitive property of spiritual addition tell us? It tells us that there's no daylight between our belief and our actions? It tells us there's no daylight between loving God and loving the people of God. It tells us that there's no daylight between loving God and loving the commandments of God. It tells us that there's no daylight between loving the people of God and loving the commands of God. For what is the commands of God, which is love. It's a new command, and it's an old command. And he tells us to kind of the last separate leases is you got to do this better. So the commands are not burdensome. Let's talk about that for a second. The burdensome word is a Greek word, which means fierce or vicious or cruel, His commands are not aren't cruel. They're not vicious. Now, that doesn't mean that they're not inconvenient and tiresome. I equated by saying, like a parent, loving your children is not a burdensome command. Now, that doesn't mean it's not exhausting, sometimes, but it's not a grievous command. It's the good stuff. It's one of the blessings that I would would pray upon your life that you would have the love the love of a family. It's not grievous. It's the good stuff. One of the ways that you see here in the passage day the face of God is by interacting with the frequently tiresome and the frequently inconvenient people of God. Why is that? Why am I telling you to go go to the tiresome and inconvenient people of God why, because that is where you will be seeing him work, seeing his activity, and therefore seeing his face, you will know God by this interaction. So this inconvenient exhausting interaction is the good stuff. So being smack dab in the heart of God means to be smack dab in the heart of the people, which means being smack dab in the heart of His will His commandments. So the heart of God is in his people, and my heart must be in his people, if I want to be near the center of as well and therefore be in the center of him. So he first loved us, he helps us with our, our spiritual birth and then he helps us with every day after that first birth. So my, my prayer today is, May the love for you God be demonstrated by the love that we have for your people. In May the love for you be demonstrated by loving your commands, which are to love one another. Love the knucklehead. Remember everyone? First John is a love story, and we are a part of it. Which was to be loving God's people loving his will and therefore loving God Himself. First John is love story. Go love today.