(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

going to do the meal train but for those you know for any ladies who are with child and they and they'd like you know obviously like to have I think it's a great blessing then that is what we would normally do as a church so we still have many more families here other ladies who are with child you could see mrs. Taylor mrs. Bostic mrs. Carter mrs. Miller mrs. Kristen Miller and we have a new one to add this morning mrs. Estrada miss hope Estrada is with child so congratulations to Estrada family we're excited about that so we're gonna pray that everything goes really well very early in the pregnancy so sometime near the end of September is the estimated arrival time of the next Estrada child so please pray that everything goes well with that pregnancy as of course all of the other ladies that are that are pregnant here and it's great to see all the blessings of God with with so many children being born in our church and I just love the fact that you know we got little little girls little boys running around playing and that you know it's kind of signs that that our churches is a lively church unfortunately there's way too many churches out there that are that are dying and they're on the way out and it's just you've got some really old people and that's all that's left and when they're gone that's that's that's it right and that happens most most of the time because of the lack of evangelism because of the lack of soul and the lack of going out and reaching people and trying to make disciples getting people saved making disciples and and getting them in and serving the Lord that that needs to be happening in church in order to stay lively so in any case great blessing of Lord let's keep looking through these prayer requests because we have a lot of people here who are in very great need for their health many people still struggling with cancer Lonnie can course in patty cam nets Logan and Charles Stover all are suffering from various cancers and none of these people I think are in very good condition can we had a good update is sustaining and and is doing well but is not cancer free is not you know it's not cured but but he is thankfully doing well but so we definitely want to continue to pray for everyone here that's struggling with that it's a very very difficult disease to deal with and very taxing on the body especially with the various treatments that a lot of people are receiving for this it is not not good at all so please pray for the strength and healing and then we've got of course many other people have other diseases that we have been praying for trying to see do we have we have any other updates for people who are on the list I don't I don't have any yes yes ma'am okay okay so on Friday that's when the test will be done and then results to follow okay okay okay good so yeah we're praying for brother Preston's mom Cynthia and she might have breast cancer so she's gonna get the scans done this week and then hopefully get the results back quickly and then know for sure and then how to proceed from there anyone else have any updates all right very good take a photo of this put in your phone keep it with you take the the the insert with you and and make sure you're in prayer for people very important down the bottom of the page here of course we've got we've got the churches and pastors we cycle through various churches and pastors we pray for pray for God's blessing on their churches and on their ministry and that God will protect them in their service to him this week we're praying for steadfast Baptist Church and pastor Jonathan Shelley there in in the Dallas area generally but Cedar Cedar Hill is where the church is currently located on the next page February challenge spend a minimum of one hour every day doing something spiritual and I have such as you know praying reading your Bible memorizing the Bible soul winning attending church you know all these various things that that you're dedicating time to the Lord you know even if you're if you're spending time and you're like watch you're gonna watch a sermon watch preaching I say that also counts I encourage you though to spread your time out doing various things not just one thing in particular to to meet this challenge try to to do you know multiple of the activities that would be considered spiritual things so you don't just aren't lopsided in any one area so I mentioned kind of all these different things one hour every day and you'll complete that challenge now before I continue at the prizes and stuff I need to know because I'd mentioned previously for those that completed the Bible reading challenge in January right if you wanted something from this table you are welcome to have that and I was also offering an Amazon gift card some of you I believe chose some of these gifts I know at least one person chose an Amazon gift card and then the other option was the mystery prize it was a mystery to me too because I hadn't bought it yet so I don't know what this and and it's still it's still a mystery prize because I don't I didn't get another prize yet and I don't know how many people are opting for the mystery prize so if you if you completed that challenge and you want the mystery prize just slip your hand up real quick so I could get a good hand count one two three four five six seven eight nine anyone else back there nine nine okay I'm gonna I'm gonna go with I'm gonna go with ten just to be safe I do okay did you did you raise your hand or no for the mystery prize okay okay yeah just I still have Amazon gift cards if you wanted that this is just for those who are interested in the mystery prize maybe better maybe worse you never know all right I will try to have that by next week and then continuing on new church plant in Greenville I just continue to pray as I mentioned every week continue to pray that that God will lead us to a good place the right building good meeting location for this church plant as it is not easy to find the right space and we are being patient it's not that we couldn't just find something in somewhere that we can just have a building move into we want it to work really well this is just like any other big endeavor right we're gonna be patient and take our time to make sure we do it right and we want to make sure we have expansion and room for growth because we fully anticipate that this church plant is going to grow and be a big a big church just fully functional on its own and see and be just as successful if not more than than our church here so we're planning on that we're trying to see that which is why we're taking our time in finding a space okay we don't want to get too pressured to want to have to do thing now now now now it's a big work it's a big task so we're going to make sure we do everything right which is also why when we ordain people if someone's gonna be ordained a pastor that we're not trying to turn out pastors real quick like a like a factory you know we're gonna take time in that area as well and be patient and make sure that the people who are being taught and trained up to pastor churches are very solid very faithful and and are already established as being such and and are meeting all the criteria and have a desire to do the job and do the work so that also is you know everything that we do we want to be to make sure we don't fail right not that there won't ever be failure but that we can do everything that we can to just make sure hey this is going to succeed we're confident and we're going to move forward so obviously people fail in general but we're going to do make our best effort and and and do our best to do that so that's kind of a little insight into the way that we do things here Hebrews chapter 11 is our Bible memory passage so we're we've cut this passage in half this chapter in half excuse me we're learning the the first 20 verses so take about 10 weeks you do two verses a week you could stay on that pace you'll be able to memorize this passage if you could quote it word perfect without error then you'll be able to earn a prize for being able to do that excuse me birthdays and anniversaries are listed there Josiah Taylor has a birthday today and I don't see that Taylor family here so if it's your birthday of course we'll sing happy birthday and you get a ice cream for free on your birthday here we've got other birthdays for the rest of the month listed there upcoming events down at the bottom of the page mrs. Taylor's birthday or birthday baby shower is coming up next week in between the church services we've got a home school field trip at the roller ring February 23rd and then the ladies sewing fellowship on March 16th and on the back you could see on and on the rest of them home school field trips HSFT is home school field trip that's what that is for and yeah if you're interested in these events I've listed a couple of things in here that are not they're not activities through our church but if you're interested in those activities we've got the the banner up on the back for the next generation youth rally that's held at Verity Baptist Church and if you need more information on the faith for Baptist Church missions trip you could talk to me or go online and find more info about that that's about it for our announcements so without turning service over to brother Austin who's going to lead us in our next song again Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh please first John one that which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled the word of life for the life was manifested and we have seen it and bear witness and show unto you that eternal life which was with the father and was manifested unto us that which that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that he also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the father and with his son Jesus Christ and these things right we unto you that your joy may be full this then is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all if we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lie and do not the truth but if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanses us from all sin if we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness if we say that we have not sinned we make him a liar and his word is not in us let's pray dear God thank you for this day and thankful let's all be gathered here together thank you for this passage and I pray you would be with Pastor Burzins as he comes to preach the word fill in with your spirit and be with us as we go solely later today in Jesus name amen all right before I start the sermon I have some more updates I have a lovely assistant that always keeps me mindful of the things that I forget and that I need to talk about when I go through the announcements especially we brought in a bunch of stuff a bunch of clothing in this room over here that's over on the table most of its really good stuff not used too much from our children if you're interested in any of that you could help yourself it's it's all stuff it's all of it right Leslie's all stuff that's that's smaller than our youngest child so for boys it's the stuff that doesn't fit David and for girls and stuff that doesn't fit Emily is that correct but there's jackets and other things in there you can you can help yourself to whatever you'd like and anything that you don't want will just pass along to Goodwill or whatever some other donation center so if you can use any of that stuff feel free to go through it all and and take what you want I would just ask that if you want it whatever you want to take leave the bins for us to use for other stuff if it's the plastic bins but that is out here and then the roller skating event for the homeschool field trip there's no food there they're not going to be selling food so just bring some drinks for yourself and and it's just a two-hour event or whatever in the afternoon so just understand that there's that's a it's a it's a not it's a non eating event it's a roller skating event so don't expect there to be concessions open or anything like that because we've got the place reserved for ourselves we're not paying for employees to open up concessions and do all that stuff so that is that and then finally we haven't I haven't really announced this but I was planning on it today and I forgot to add Leslie's name to the prayer request but if you could please pray for my wife she needs to have another knee surgery her knee replacement surgery that she had was it only one one year ago two years ago three already not that long ago three years ago is failed it's not it's not working right so she's in a lot of pain again it didn't it's not working the way it ought to and she needs to have another knee replacement on the same knee where they need to take away more of the bone and kind of restructure that whole thing so she's scheduled for to have that prayer that prayer that that surgery next month so any prayers for her we appreciate that it is a significant surgery so if you can pray for her we'd appreciate that all of that I think that's everything so continuing on here with the sermon we read from 1st John chapter 1 and what I'm gonna do this morning is we're gonna have a Bible study and we out you're missing out on a lot you know one of the one of the things that I teach here our church is that the concept of three to thrive because we hold three church services a week and and it is important to be attending church as much as possible the Bible says of course in Hebrews chapter 10 not forsaking the assembly as the manner of some is but but so much the more as you see the day approaching we need to be in church more so the the closer we get to the day of Christ the closer we get as we're in the end times we need to be in church more not less right and we offer three church services and especially for those of you that might not know so if you're visiting our church you haven't been here very long other churches will have multiple service times but it's basically like the same service just kind of repeated we don't do that here so if you come back this evening it's gonna be a different service different songs different sermon different pre you know all of its different it's it's the same structure the same format but it's a different service so there's there's more teaching to get from the Word of God you get this you know more fellowship and everything else that goes along with the church service so I encourage you to increase if you don't normally come to church more frequently than just once a week to consider coming to church more frequently we on Wednesdays we dedicate Wednesdays just to Bible studies and Wednesday night services Bible study services are different than what is normally preached I'll typically will preach topical type sermons on Sundays and then Bible studies on Wednesday and of course we call a Bible study everything technically you can say it's a Bible study we're using a lot of Bible we're looking at it but the difference is a Bible study like our Wednesday night Bible study is expository we go through verse by verse and cover every single thing that's that's in that chapter as much as possible to just go through it and be exhaustive in what the Bible is saying and get our understanding from the scripture verse by verse of course teaching doctrines and and preaching on different subjects you're gonna be kind of moving around a lot more in the scripture to prove things which is typically done on Sundays but I decided to just do we got a short book here there's just five chapters so we're gonna do this series on Sunday mornings to just help everyone especially those that don't normally come to a Bible study you're gonna see what that's like and get some teaching first John is full of great doctrine anyways extremely important doctrine there's some basic truths there's some deep truths some some real harder to understand things as well as very basic things found in this book so we're gonna go through this verse by verse and hopefully this encourage you if you could make it out on a Wednesday night to come out to our Bible studies and and get more of this type of preaching of Bible study doctrine now obviously not everyone can even make it here on time because of distance and things like that so if you can't make it I still encourage you to get online and listen to and receive some more the teaching to get more well-rounded on the teaching of the Bible study or find another church that's doing Bible studies that's closer to you where you could you could learn that way too obviously that's that's always an option to be able to do that but if you're making the drive to come here I just assume you're not as much of a fan of the the churches that are close to you so either way attending church is important but but try to get this type of a teaching if you can so let's dive into the chapter here verse number one the Bible reads that which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life for the life was manifested and we have seen it and bear witness and show unto you that eternal life which was with the father and was manifested unto us now this first epistle of John that we're reading here first John chapter one is is penned down by the same person as the Gospel of John okay this is the same John it's the same John as the book of Revelation as well so what you're gonna find here even though everything is that you know the Word of God is the author is God right this is the Word of God it is God's Word that's what makes it perfect and and without error and it truly is what God would have us to know but the way that God works with man as he does even with people being saved he works with man it's God's Word that saves it's it's God that has the power but God endues the man to be able to to bring forth his word and to plant the seed and to do the things that are required for salvation and God has ordained that man is involved in that similarly God has used man to deliver his word unto us and it's not that these are just all of the thoughts and intents of the individual human being that's speaking the Word of God however when the words are expressed the Word of God is expressed there is there is differences or signatures of that person kind of in and signature might not be the right word but it's a it's a style thank you yeah style that you can tell there's that there's a little bit different some of the subject matters that are brought up are very similar to and when you compare the writings of the Gospel of John with the the writings of 1st 2nd and 3rd John and Revelation there's a lot of similarities of the the subject matter as well as even there's the words that are used and and this is you know again it's it's somewhat of a mystery the way that God uses man okay and and the Bible tells us that holy men of God spake as they were removed by the Holy Ghost right but the Holy Ghost leads and provides the truth for those human vessels to speak and then be able to transmit to everybody the Word of God okay and I don't want to get too deep on that we know that this is the Word of God we trust this but the reason I'm even bringing all this up is because we're gonna see a lot of similarities between John chapter 1 and 1st John chapter 1 talking about Jesus specifically bringing up the the word right this is something that's that's somewhat unique to the Apostle John he brings up that we've seen him the Word of Life and this is these are all things that we find in John chapter 1 we're gonna get there in a minute I don't want to get too far ahead of myself but what he's saying he's opening up this book and the other thing to understand before I even continue any further when we're looking at these chapters and this book especially okay the chapter divisions are great it helps us to break things down and identify and communicate hey what what are we talking about what part of that book of the epistle the first episode John are even talking about oh it's chapter 3 in verse number 10 or what you know like you you can reference things so that we can have better discussions talking about the same thing but the epistle is just one epistle we're going to be looking at some passages here that he's just starting to talk about subjects in chapter 1 and gonna continue to go much more in depth in chapter 2 and chapter 3 and chapter 4 and chapter 5 throughout the whole epistle and what people who teach false doctrines will oftentimes do is go and pull out a verse and build a whole doctrine off of that verse without getting it in the proper context and the full teaching of that epistle or of that book let alone of course it has to coincide with the context of this the Bible as a whole right so there can't be any contradictions in Scripture even throughout the epistles that Paul wrote or the epistle of Peter wrote or the epistles that John wrote like you can't have any contradiction because it is all the Word of God but especially I mean you want to understand the meaning of something well within that epistle make sure you're getting the full context and the full teaching of what's being said because in 1st John there's a lot of places where you can just pull one verse and be like see look what the Bible says right here but you have to get the whole teaching of what does it really mean what why is he even saying the things that he says in this context okay and it'll become a lot clearer as we continue through this and they'll probably be some referring back to 1st John chapter 1 as we continue this Bible study so I'm not going to be able to teach too much in depth on necessarily everything that's stated in 1st John chapter 1 because it's going to be we're gonna receive more information about these things as we continue in these other chapters where we're gonna we're gonna just understand it even more fully so that being said he starts off just saying look we've heard we've seen this with our eyes and this is the testimony of those that were with Christ right that's where our New Testament books come from they come from people who man we were there I've seen it with my eyes I felt it with my hands I mean I know this is true I was there I am an eyewitness we've looked upon him we've seen with our eyes our hands have handled him like we've touched the word of life for the life was manifested it was you know the life was manifested in the flesh which is what we find out from John chapter 1 when the word was made fast flesh and we have seen it and bear witness and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us and in here we see all of these words being used about Jesus and he's using these these words synonymously like the word of life and even that eternal life the eternal life he's referring to is is Jesus and if you think about it we get our eternal life through Christ right he is the truth the way and the life right so he's the life he's the word these words are faithful and true Jesus Christ is called faithful and true and there's so many aspects when you when you read about even just the word of God and Jesus Christ all the attributes and characteristics line up perfectly because Jesus is the word the Bible says in Luke 24 there's a there's a testimony here in the gospel of Luke about them handling Jesus because remember he said look we've seen him and we've handled him in verse number one here in 1st John 1 Luke 24 verse 36 says this and as they thus spake Jesus himself stood in the midst of them and saith unto them peace be unto you but they were terrified and affrighted and suppose that they had seen a spirit and he said unto them why are you troubled and why do thoughts arise in your hearts behold my hands and my feet that it is I myself handle me and see for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me have and when he had thus spoken he showed them his hands and his feet so when Jesus resurrects from the dead and he's seen of his disciples this is extremely important because this is confirming it's not that they didn't see a ghost they didn't just see a spirit now look God could have chosen to resurrect just spiritually and not physically right like if that was his plan but that wasn't his plan but and this is really important because there's so much tied into the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ that he came back not just like in the spirit and there's plenty of false religions out there that will teach things like this that it's just a spiritual resurrection or things like that no Jesus is like look I am here I'm not just an apparition I'm not just a spirit I'm not just some ghost I mean I have flesh and bones touch me handle me feel me like it's me here's my hand he says why did he show him his hands and his feet because he had nails pounded into his hands and his feet that's why he's it's not because of any other reason other than to be like it's me remember I got I got nails pierced through my hands see do you see where they were they pierced the nails through my hands and through my feet I'm back I'm resurrected I'm here I'm alive and that is that's extremely important of course the resurrection is is is critical to our salvation to the hope that we have that Jesus Christ did not just die but he died and rose again from the dead we have a living Savior and this is what the Apostle John is expressing here even just in these first couple verses in 1st John chapter 1 like look we've seen him we thought we know that this is true so he's giving the the reason to you know just just opening up with with his testimony and and the confidence that yes this is absolutely true what we're gonna tell you about is what we have seen and what we have heard he's called also here the the word of life the Bible says in John 6 51 where Jesus said this I am the living bread which came down from heaven if any man eat of this bread he shall live forever and the bread that I will give is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world and in obviously he didn't call himself the word of life but he called himself a living bread and the fact that Jesus Christ has life is life and provides life is what's being taught here in 1st John chapter 1 he's the word of life he's the bread of life he provides life to all who receive him John 11 25 says this Jesus said unto her I am the resurrection and the life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die believeth thou this Jesus Christ is the life John 14 verse 6 of course I already quoted this earlier Jesus saith unto him I am the way the truth and the life no man cometh unto the Father but by me Jesus Christ is the way he is the truth and he is the life and John is now bearing witness of the life this is the word of life this is the life that was manifested this is that eternal life that we are going to teach and preach unto you as he's writing this epistle just just bearing witness to life to eternal life turn if you would to John chapter 1 keep your place in 1st John 1 because we are coming right back to that in John chapter 1 of course the Apostle John refers to Jesus as the word again in this in the gospel here John 1 1 the Bible reads in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God the same was in the beginning with God in this verse very clearly as with 1st John we'll see and especially as we get into 1st John chapter 5 teaches the Trinity the doctrine that we believe in the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and that these three are one we'll go into that much more deeply when we get into chapter 5 but we see here also John 1 1 is a great place to show the deity of Jesus Christ and the fact that it says here that he's with God but he also was God so this this is the concept of the three in one there's a separation of there being three but then there's a unity of there being one he's with God because he's with the Father but he is God and that's why he says he and he was the word was God okay one God three persons so I'm not gonna spend a lot of time on that doctrine this morning as I said but we see the similarities here between these passages and that's one of the things I want to point out so he talks about the word words with God word it was God verse 3 all things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made and and before I can see I just want to point this out like some people naysayers and atheists and people want to criticize the Bible a lot of a lot of times people will claim that oh yeah this this whole religion about Jesus just came up like after he died and that's not really what Jesus was teaching but like his disciples just took things really far and they just kind of built up this whole religion after him and and turned it into something that it wasn't when Jesus was around you know people make up all kinds of stories to try to just cast shade on the Bible and why you shouldn't believe in oh it's just these men that made this up but look the Gospel of John it clearly John believes this but it's clear also that Jesus taught this because he's quoting Jesus Christ in his teachings and it's like look these are the guys that were with him they know what Jesus was teaching and think about that too like like what a better witness I've witnessed this just personally in my own life with people who preach the Bible you'll you know there's some people who might hear things that are taught they'll hear little little snippets and they'll they'll hear this or that or something they'll hear through the grapevine maybe through someone said and then a lot of times people like this make things up or extrapolate and then just start making all this other judgment on that person then what is even true but those who are actually there and are actually eyewitnesses and are actually part of that minute you know you know much more fully what's true than those who just are kind of on the outside and they hear something here and there and this is common especially within the new IB movement there's so many people online on the internet they live all over the world they just kind of hear different things they might hear a sermon here hear this other thing there or read something some post or some blog or some news article or whatever and think they know the whole story it's like you don't know it at all like why don't you find out from the people who are actually there and eyewitnesses and and are involved what the truth actually is and if you're interested in the truth that's what you'll do right and not just believe everything you hear or see from other people just as people trying to cast shade on like oh Jesus didn't say like no he did and that's why like all of his disciples and his apostles are saying this is what he taught and they all believe this and were willing to die for it they didn't have some advantage they weren't trying to milk people for their money they were murdered I mean they lost their lives for the cause of Christ their life was not bettered physically speaking by serving Christ and making the claim that he was God like what is the motivation for these men when you know how their life was lived and we have a record of what happened to them and the persecution that they faced and the being ostracized by the world at large and even like the Apostle Paul is writing about all the things he went through like look I was shipwrecked I was in perils among false brethren I was in perils in the sea and you know like like all the things that he went through why it was all for the cause of Christ and is preaching this truth he wasn't getting financial gain he was working as well as ministering the word you know he this should show you that it's not about us any other motivation then these people fully completely believed all of this stuff to be true so people want to try to tell you otherwise that's just false I mean this is a powerful witness coming from the people who were with Christ they handled him they ate with him they were taught directly by him and know what was being said and what was being taught and then continued with those teachings and continued to bring forth that truth let's go back to John chapter 1 here the Bible says in verse number 4 in him was life and the life was the light of men so again in Christ in Jesus in the word was life Jesus is the life and the light and then he references the life was the light of men and talks about the light which we're also gonna see reference in first John chapter 1 as well and the light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not there was a man sent from God whose name was John the same came for witnesses into the Apostle John is talking about John the Baptist the same came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe he was not that light but he was sent to bear witness of that light that was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world he was in the world and the world was made by him and the world knew him not he came unto his own and his own received him not and then verse 12 says but as many as received him to them gave me power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name let's go back to first John chapter 1 verse number 3 so as we continue through here and you'll see more similarities of course as we continue that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that ye also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his son Jesus Christ so one of the things that he's stating here said look we're dick the things that we've heard and seen we declare unto you he's making a declaration this is a statement of truth and we're gonna declare these things unto you this is what we've seen and this is what we've heard now I'm declaring it unto you and say he's declaring unto you like this is this is powerful this is there's no doubt about this these are the things we've seen and heard we know these things to be true so we're gonna declare this unto you and what's the purpose of that why that you can have fellowship with us they already have had the fellowship with Christ they already have the fellowship with the Father they know what they're teaching is true they know they've received the Word of God and now we're saying look we're declaring this unto you that you could do you can have fellowship with us we want you to know this stuff too we want you to see and hear the things that we see you know to at least know the things that we've seen and heard so that you can have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his son Jesus Christ and when he's talking about declaring these things unto you it reminded me of Acts 4 20 that says for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard and this is of course when when the apostle being we're being persecuted for preaching Jesus and they're they're trying to command them not to teach in his name and if you do this you're gonna get arrested and we're gonna beat you and all these other things and they're like look it's like whether whether it's right you know you you decide that and again I'm not quoting that right at all but he's saying you know that they said for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard like we can't help it so if it's if it's right by you for us you if you think it's right for us to censor God's Word and when God tells us that commands us to teach and you tell us not to look we're gonna obey God rather than men that was their attitude we're not gonna just listen to what you have to say we're gonna do what God told us to do so we can't help but to speak these things and you know we all ought to have that attitude the things that you've learned from the Bible things that that God has opened up your understanding about in the truth that you know all of us have you know if you're here and you're saved today you have that understanding of being saved in the gift of eternal life you know hopefully you have that same spirit that says I can't help but talk about these things I can't help but just preach this truth unto people because it's so important because I know this to be true I know that God is true I know the Bible is true I know that heaven is real I know that hell is real and I know that there's a free gift that God loves you and he wants you to be saved I know this and I can't help but tell you about it and this is how the disciples were we can't even help ourselves I have to tell you about this this is like the burning in the bosom where it's like look I don't even want to say anything was it Jeremiah that said that was like hey I don't want to you know I tried not to say anything I just shut up my mouth because there's all these naysayers wrong there's all these people that are after them but I couldn't I couldn't do it I had this burning and any have to speak preach the truth cannot help I cannot but speak the things we've seen it in heard and this is what John is testifying here in 1st John chapter 1 we're declaring these things unto you because we want you have fellowship verse number four 1st John 1 and these things right we unto you that your joy may be full now the these things is not just referring to chapter 1 of course but referring to this whole epistle so these things were writing unto you that your joy may be full so we're gonna have to keep that in mind as we continue because as you read through the book of 1st John you're gonna find a lot of references to loving not the world right into into into living and righteously and holy and the reason why he brings this stuff up and like I said we're gonna go into that as we continue our Bible study but just keep this in mind that these things are written that your joy may be full so the whole point of talking about some of these things that some people might consider to be negative things is really to bring joy to you and it keep your place here in 1st John turn if you would to John chapter 15 because we see this same concept taught there as well so there's two reasons that we saw in 1st John verses 3 & 4 that we just read of why he's declaring these things unto you one that you have fellowship with us and then by association he says well hey our fellowship with the Father so if you're gonna fellowship with us then that is means you're also gonna have the fellowship with the Father as well and then also that your joy may be full right and why wouldn't it be if you have fellowship with the Father that's stands to reason that of course that would also bring you joy right fellowship with other with other brethren and fellowship with the Father there's joy in that and he's saying hey we're writing these things because we want you to have fellowship we want your joy to be full John 15 verse number 9 the Bible reads as the father of love me so I love you continue you in my love of course this is Jesus speaking if you keep my commandments you shall abide in my love even as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love these things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full so Jesus is talking about their joy being full but what did he say right before that if you keep my commandments you're gonna abide you're gonna be dwelling in my love and dwelling in the love of Christ is gonna bring you joy but how are you gonna have that joy by keeping the commandments oh you're so legalistic I teach the Bible and I'm gonna teach keeping the commandments of Christ because I want you to have joy in your life you know who doesn't have joy in your life those that want to mock that you're so legalistic they don't have joy in their life oh you follow all these rules yeah and and you don't follow the rules and tell me how that's working out for you you don't want to hear about the prohibition of alcohol and God's Word you want to just go out and drink and party it up and every yeah tell me how good that works out for you how fun is that hangover how's that how's that liver disease treating you how are all the dumb things that you say and do feeling the next day it's not very it's not full of joy you have the fool's joy for the moment when you're drinking and doing drugs but you pay for it a lot more later and and it really whatever you think you're feeling of that good feeling that comes with the the alteration of your senses through drugs and alcohol it's a lot worse in the end though withdrawal the the impact on your body because there's there is a certain feeling that those poisons bring to your body that make you feel good that make your body give you that sense of pleasure look I'm not gonna lie and say that there isn't some type of pleasure in doing these things otherwise no one would do it of course it's there that's the draw that's the appeal but the effect that the after effect is much worse on your body than whatever effect that you feel in the moment of getting that carnal pleasure feeling that goes on I mean fornication is very similar right there's a carnal feeling of pleasure but then the ramifications of that sin far outweigh any any momentary pleasure that you get it's just like Moses you know he he forsook the pleasures of sin for a season because the pleasures of sin they don't last long that's very very very temporary and always come with a consequence so we don't look at the people who are living riotous lives and indulging in the the you know the women and the fast life and the party and stuff they don't have joy they don't it's not true joy and it's a facade it looks it looks exciting and it looks fun on the outside but then once people get in that I mean that's why it's full of divorce depression death I mean all the people that that get involved in that it's very rare that they come out of it living to any length of time and those that do look like they're dead I mean look at some of these ancient rock stars that that still have survived somehow they look like they're dead like anyone who's still alive like Rolling Stones or any other you know like that were known for the the drugs and the booze and stuff you don't know how I look like that when you get to their age at all and I guarantee you no matter what they look like they're feeling it so they're not you know that's not a life of joy and people who just so to the flesh you're gonna you're gonna reap the consequences of that you're gonna reap death you so to the winter you're gonna reap the whirlwind sowing to the flesh is not a good idea so yeah your joy being full keeping God's commandments because at the end of the day God knows what's good for you look we're gonna see here God is light God is love we're gonna find all these things you see all these things in 1st John God is love and that's a true statement and amen I mean thank God for his mercy and for saving us and we're sinners and we don't deserve it but he loved us anyways such a loving God has told us how we ought to live he's instructed us he's tell the look live this way not because he hates you just as much as a mom and a dad raising children you know how many times the children complain oh why can't I do this oh you know you hate me that's something we've heard from from our youngest recently is you know we tell her not to do something you hate me right and look that's a child's mentality and for adults it's kind of funny right we know and it's not like they even believe that they just say these things but that that comes into the head of the immature the babe oh you're not you're being real restrictive and not letting me do this because you hate me no no that's not it at all and one day when you grow up more you'll understand it's not because we hate you it's it's the exact opposites because we love you and we need to understand that about the Bible the rules the commandments that Christ hasn't here it's not because God hates you and he wants you to live such a stuffy prudish life and you can't have any fun and it's like that's not it at all there's you and you won't know it until you do it until you try it the joy that comes with living a righteous life the closer you are to Christ that the more you can incorporate and look none of us are perfect we know that but we don't it doesn't mean well let's just throw up our hands and give up then because we're not perfect so let's just indulge in all manner of sin no one of the reasons why we don't just always have joined life because we're not always walking in the spirit right we have these we have areas that need to be improved on but the more you walk in the spirit the more joy you're gonna have that's the fruit of the spirit love peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith when you walk in the spirit when you're when you're obeying the commandments of Jesus when you're doing what's right the joy is there John 15 Jesus taught this John first John the puzzle John is reiterating this that look we want your joy to be full let's look at verse number five first John chapter one Bible says this then is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all and this is another good attribute of God the true God that in God there's it's only light and no darkness at all and when you compare the God of the Bible to other religions and other gods of the world this isn't the truth in many other religions you think about especially like the the Eastern religions and a lot of Asian religions you know the the the yin-yang sign many of you may have seen that before it's like a white and a black and there's like a dot in the white section and a black and then a dot of white in the black section you know what I'm talking about the circle okay maybe you're familiar with that and what that represents is that in good there's always a little evil and in evil there's always a little good right and and they're just trying to say that this is and in one sense right in a carnal sense you get when you're applying that to people you can say oh yeah sure I mean people who are evil can end up doing something that's good and people who are good can do some things that are evil right but that's not God that is not God and that is not some way we should follow like of this you know doing any evil because in God is just light so if you're gonna repre you're gonna put up representation of God it would just be like all light zero darkness whatsoever in because God is light and I love I mean just think it's so profound I'm not gonna spend too much time on this but just think about your own just what light does light exposes things darkness hides things light everything's open everything's seen evil things are always done in the dark undercover people don't want to be known they don't want to be find out in all manner of life everywhere people who are doing things they shouldn't be doing don't want to be seen don't want to be caught don't want it to be made known and when people are doing what's right who cares let's let's publish it abroad above board right we ought to shine the light and the light shines into the darkness and you know the John chapter 1 talks about this as well that light was the light shineth in the darkness and I'll just reading this for you from John chapter 1 and the darkness comprehended it not right and Jesus is that true light and he went out and and why did they hate Jesus and want to destroy him because he exposed them and he any preach about them that their deeds were evil right the Pharisees the Sadducees you know those that were out to kill Jesus he exposed them as hypocrites he exposed them as false prophets because the truth and the light exposes those things that's what it's gonna do and it makes people angry the Bible says in John 8 12 then spake Jesus again unto them saying I am the light of the world he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life verse number six here in first John chapter 1 the Bible reads if we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lie and do not the truth now this is this is going to be an important part of the of the passage here and we're getting into an area where people are gonna formulate some false doctrine when you're not getting this in context and as a whole and people want to yank stuff out of Scripture but first let's start with verse number six because this is a true statement now when we're talking about fellowship there's nothing weird about the definition of that word I think we all pretty much understand that right fellowship we're communing with one another we're gonna be I mean we're talking about fellowshaping with people you're gonna be on good terms you're gonna be having communion and and and just a good time back and forth one with no if I have fellowship with my children if I have fellowship with my wife I have fellowship with you in church we're able to hang out together spend some time together and everything is good right fellowship this is not talking about just being saved this is talking about having fellowship okay so if we say we have fellowship with God and look this is gonna be real clear when you think about how many people if you were to ask them you know like well hey do you you know do you have fellowship with God or how good as you go a lot of people tell you how great their relationship is with God right oh yeah I've got a great relationship with God and here's what the Bible saying here look if you say you have fellowship with them but then you're walking in darkness but then you're living this life where you're you're involved in this in and this in and this in and this in he says we're lying and we're not doing the truth you lie and do not the truth you can't claim to have this great fellowship with God but you're living in fornication you're going out and partying and drinking you're going you know like like you're living this sinful lifestyle and be like oh yeah I've got this great relationship with God no you don't no you don't I mean it's just call it what it is you don't you're lying to yourself you're deceiving yourself if you think you have some great relationship with God and you're not doing really anything spiritual or anything that God said I mean think about this what type of relationship does a child have with their parent when the parents tell them you need to do this you need to do this you need to do this and they don't do any of that but then they're like oh yeah I got a great relationship with it's like you really think that because mom and dad are gonna be like no like they're not doing anything that I tell them to do or every once in a while they might listen and do one thing it's like it's like I'm calling I'm calling my son I keep calling you I keep calling you and then like one day out of the week they're like oh hey dad how's it going and then the rest of the time I'm trying to speak to him trying to get through to him and nothing that's not a good relationship oh I'm just gonna go off and do whatever I want and then occasionally I'll listen or hear what you have to say or yeah I'll listen to you but I'm not really gonna gonna do that I'm not gonna take it to heart if we say we have fellowship and we walk in darkness we lie and do not the truth but if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another and so look if we're if we're doing right if we're if we're if we're living righteously we're gonna have good fellowship we're gonna fellowship one with another with other believers and then we're also gonna have fellowship with the Father and now and then it says this it says and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanses us from all sin now some people will want to twist what this is saying to say well if you're not walking in light then you're not saved so and you got to be careful with logic and how you can't always do the inverse or the reverse of a statement to make it true some truths are only one direction it's not not everything you know there's a there's a transitive principle you know if a equals C and B equals C then a equals B but that's not what's being done here okay and you have to understand that when the Bible says if you walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanses us from all sin that's not saying you have to walk into life to be saved or to be just cleansed from every sin what this is doing is illustrating the truth that first of all none of us is without sin so when he's talking about walking in light you have to address the fact that nobody's perfect so nobody's gonna be walking in the light perfectly I mean we can't so there's gonna have to be some type of way to differentiate between walking in darkness and walking in light because anytime you say to you like well I'm not in light then and that's true but there's a difference between you know those who are just living a life of sin as we would consider it versus those who are you know of course a sinner because we fall short but we're not just living a sinful life and why the context matters so much is if you just yank out verse number seven it's a lot easier to try to teach that see look you have to be walking the light or else you don't have that forgiveness of sins which is not what it's saying but when you keep reading this epistle look at for example look at 1st John chapter 2 verse number 1 I mean just just a few verses later right this is all one epistle we just jumped down a few sentences he says my little children these things write I unto you that you sin not so the goal is to not sin and if any man sin we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous so the point in the goal and what's being expressed is to not sin it's to walk in light but if you do sin hey you still have an advocate right so if you're walking in darkness you can't say you have fellowship with God but if you're walking in light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another and hey the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanses us from all sin so in those areas where we're gonna fall short in those areas because we are sinners we can still walk in the light and have the confidence of knowing okay when I mess up and when I slip up I've got Christ that's gonna cover me of that sin and still be able to walk in the light as he's describing it here so of course we're not going to be perfect but we can still walk in the light because we have Christ that covers us from all of our sin does that make sense like that's what's being taught here and it's clearer because look the only other way to take that would be to say okay well then I guess we have to live perfectly sinless to walk in the light does anyone do that only fools actually believe that there are some foolish movements out there that that actually subscribe to this and occasionally may run into them I think the only ones that I've run into that that really believe this are Pentecostals there's like a holiness movement that that believe that you can actually they believe in what's called sinless perfection and their definition of that is is that they believe that it's possible to actually live in the flesh here on earth and not sin at all for a lie and I'm talking about like extended periods of time I have talked to someone who said like I haven't sinned in like three years maybe five years it's a joke right it's a joke it is a joke and and the only people who believe that are people who deceive themselves because no one else is deceived if someone comes to be like I haven't seen in five years like you try not to laugh in their face just to be nice to them because it's so ridiculous of a thing to say you haven't sinned in that long and and look this is it's so silly because you know anyone goes out so winning we talk to people one of the first things we do is we just bring up sin and the fact that hey all of sin and come show the glory of God and like ninety nine point nine percent of the people you talk to totally agree of course because it's just so obvious look we've all sinned of course we're not perfect and of course we can't even really live a perfect life there's just too many and the thing is you're either extremely ignorant just haven't read the Bible and you only listen to what someone else tells you about the Bible to be to be convinced that you don't sin like to be convinced that you don't sin there's a lot of sins you have to just not believe or sins right so like you can't read Proverbs first of all because the book of Proverbs states that the thought of sin or thought of foolishness is sin thought of foolishness is sin you can't read James right Moses to him that know what to do good and do with it not to him it is sin because you mean to tell me that you are always doing that which is good because you know who did that there's only one person who's ever done that Jesus Jesus only one that could ever say I do always those things that please the Father so you're gonna tell me as you're sitting in your house eating potato chips and watching television but I mean I'm not lying these are like I've had this conversation with people before not these exact words but these type of people who are doing these things wait do you know how to do good don't you know you're supposed to be preaching gospel I mean don't you know look Jesus did always those things right now Jesus is the one who said I don't even have a dwelling place why because he was out all the time ministering to people like that was his life other than the necessary sleep and food for his body to be sustained he was ministering he was working he was doing okay that's the life that Christ led he did always those things that pleased the Father we can't say that in in an honest conscience and think that we're like we're that I mean people who really think that are so full of themselves and lifted up in their pride they're just blinded themselves and and which is why this the passage continues to say this in verse number eight if we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us look if you think you don't have sin you're just lying to yourself and guess what the truth isn't in you so what this also shows us look if you think if you're gonna go proclaim that you just have no sin the truth isn't even in you and and what does it mean if the truth isn't in you you're not saved these people who think they just don't don't sin at all ever like they're just pure they're not saved otherwise he wouldn't have made the statement that says like the truth is not in you now he says if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness if we say that we have not sinned we make him a liar and his word is not in us how do we make God alive we say we haven't sinned because as it is written there is none righteous no not one well that can't be true if you've not sinned for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God well that can't be true if if you haven't sinned for there's not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sin is not yet you're making God a liar okay the truth isn't in you there's a lot more that we're going to see and especially that relate to these verses right here because in 1st John chapter 3 there's going to be a truth explained about the new man and about the spirit about the about the man that doesn't sin but he's laying the foundation first to just make sure this is established as we get into this again all you have to read this all in context it's it's all important he's laying down this this foundation so that we could understand later when that when the statements made hey he that what's whosoever is born of God does not commit sin there's a there's a deeper understanding to that than what is being described right here because he's just saying look if you don't have sin the truth is not in you if you say if you say that you don't have sin so these truths need to fit together appropriately as we get into this chapter like I said we'll figure out all of that I'll preach through what what it all means but the simple portion here look we're all sinners and there's no denying that and and if we say that we we don't have sin we're just deceiving ourselves everyone else knows that you have sin everyone know even people who don't I mean people who don't believe the Bible at all or don't even believe God knows that no one is perfect nobody we all mess up we all make mistakes we all do things that are wrong and we'd all do things that that are harmful whether to ourself or others so don't don't get puffed up in that in that understanding of saying like oh well I'm so righteous and you know don't ever get to that point either where obviously we want to strive to live in holiness and in righteousness and walk in light that's what the goal is all the time but when you when you when you self reflect right I could preach I could stand here preach the truth and say hey look there is joy with that fellowship and being close to God because there have been times in my life where I've been really close to God but not always right because when when the sin comes in it kind of draws you away from God we need to to try to maintain that walk as much as possible in our life but understanding this truth and knowing this truth don't allow yourself to get this high mindset that says well I mean yeah I'm pretty much always in the light and I'm always what you know stay humble we all have room to improve don't deceive yourself into thinking how great you are you know how great thou art when we're not that great Bible talk you know teaches all righteousness is like filthy rags in God's eyes we're not as holy as we'd like to think that we are but we strive for that and we know and have confidence there is joy in that and we want to have that close relationship but we want to have that close fellowship as close as possible and have as much joy as we can in our life we don't want to deceive ourselves into thinking well we're so great and we're so much better than everyone else no continue to strive to continue to obey Christ's commandments because that's how we're gonna have that joy and that's how we're gonna have that good relationship we know we're falling short but we're gonna continue to try to keep it every day anyways because we know that's the right way and we're gonna and and we can continue you know even though we don't keep this perfectly as we may like to we're gonna still preach that hey this is still the right way and even if someone fails you or you put confidence in someone that teaches these things and you go oh wait but they have this it well you know what this is still true this is still true the Bible is still the Word of God and if anyone ever fails of what the Bible teaches even a teacher right if I fail you and you're like oh man Pastor Burzins you know he did this sin or that sin or whatever you know and you're you know you just get really disappointed well this still is true and you know I hope I never disappoint you but I but I'll tell you this right now I'm not perfect I'm still a sinner like everyone else is a sinner so if you're if you're looking to someone expecting perfection then you know I'm not Jesus so look to Jesus for the perfection and I'm gonna preach God's Word not my word so you can believe this because it's God's word not because it's my word and I'm gonna do my best to follow and live my life according to this word but don't put your confidence in me or in any man for that matter keep your trust in the Word of God because that will never fail you and you'll never be disappointed and you'll never be let down by the Word of God that stands sure men come and go men succeed men fail but the Word of God abides forever and Jesus Christ is perfect and and he is the one that's without sin and that's why we put our focus and attention on him and learning his ways and following his commandments and that what brings us a joy in the fellowship let's borrow heads have a word prayer dear Lord we love you we thank you so much for the Bible thank you for this book first epistle of John pray to please help us to understand what's what's taught in in your word open up our understanding Lord give us wisdom and I pray that you please bless the church this afternoon help us to win many people to Christ that you fill us with your spirit with your power to go out and preach your word and I pray that you would please just guide us into truth and we love you Lord's in Jesus name we pray amen all right we're gonna sing one last song before dismissed brother Peter will you please lead us Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh You