Wednesday Bible Study – 08/14/2013

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Speakers:

• Robin Atherton
• Megan Atherton

Scriptures used:

• 1 John 4
• John 1:14
• Hebrews 2:14-end
• Hebrews 4:14,15
• 2 Thessalonians 2:10
• 1 Kings 17
• 1 Samuel 17
• Judges 6
• John 17
• 1 Peter 1:13
• John 13:34
• Psalm 116:12-13

Subject:

• John is writing this to a people who heard the Word.  He exorts them, suring them up, giving them instruction and establishing them more and more in the faith.
• Believe not every spirit – there are a lot of spirits out there claiming to be the very God whom John proclaimed yet they are not speaking the truth and they are not of God.
• You need to discern and try the spirits to see if they are indeed the prophets of God.
• The test to know if something is of God or not is in verse 3:  And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
• Jesus was born into this earth as we were and he walked in perfect obedience to His father.
• We who come after Christ should do likewise – this means it is within our grasp to do as Jesus did.  Not that we will be without sin, but that we may be like Him.
• There are a lot of spirits that are not unto salvation.
• Hebrews 4:1 ¶  Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
• Hebrews 4:11 ¶  Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
• Hebrews 4:16  Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
• You try every spirit.  If it does not agree with who Jesus was and is, then that is a spirit of antichrist.
• Heaven is the Kingdom of God.  This earth is not His Kingdom.
• Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them – overcome those spirits that are not of God.  You have overcome them by the blood of the lamb.
• There are those who are not of His Kingdom, they are of this world and they speak the things of this world and are heard.
• He that knoweth God, heareth us.  My sheep know my voice.  Hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
• Hearing means to receive that which is said, digest it and go forth in it.
• Jesus was gentle, hard, rebuked, comforted, there were many different ways in which He manifested the love of God.  Love is not merely a stroking, kind, gentle thing.
• The truth sets us free, to receive the truth recognizes we are not free and we need to choose to be loosed from and separated from several things.
• The truth is something to rejoice in, not to sit in a corner and cry over.
• You are of God if you speak His Word.  If someone else knows God, they will hear His Word.
• As a Christian you are going to hear things said about what the Bible says that do not ring true if you spend time in His Word.  That is one of the main ways to know Him.
• You know His ways, so when you hear something that is not in accordance with His ways, you know it is not Truth.
• The Lord can prepare your heart so you already know something to be true when someone shares the truth with you then you are able to receive it as He has already told you and you now have confirmation.
• In banking they often teach how to recognize counterfeit bills.  They do not show you counterfeits as there are so many out there, they show you only the real ones so when a counterfeit crosses your path you recognize it immediately.  This is the same with recognizing and discerning spirits.
• Read the account of David and Goliath.  1 Samuel 17.  David saw the battle for what it was and he fought it.
• While we were yet sinners, God died for the ungodly.  There was a point when we were of the world, yet we now choose to serve the Lord.  This is important for us to remember so we can give the Gospel in love and humility and we will have grace on others because we too were in the world and of the world.  Some of us have taken more than one gracious offering.
• God is long-suffering and kind and all the things we have been called to be too.
• We partake of Him because of the blood of Jesus, not because of anything else.  The battle or war is to remain in the body because of the sufficiency of the blood of Jesus Christ.
• You can’t say you know God and love God and not love your brother. Your love for your brother shows forth by your honoring all men.
• God didn’t have a plan B. He only had plan A. It is only through Jesus that we gain access to the Father. He is the way, the truth and the life.
• We did not love God first, He loved us and sent His ONLY son to pay the price.
• God loved us – the world, the seed of Adam, not us as individuals.
• Gideon – Judges 6
• God uses other men and women to draw us unto Him.
• We did not receive God’s love as it was given, which is undeserved, if we then turn around and begrudge it to someone else.
• Love is perfected in us by how we receive His love for us.
• Jesus was baptized in the Spirit, driven into the wilderness to be tempted, overcame and came out healing the sick, raising the dead etc, etc, all by the Spirit of God, which He has given unto us too.
• Jesus administered the Gospel directly to the Apostles even as He does today.
• 1 John 4:16. And we have known AND believed … believed in Jesus.
• Avail ourselves of that which God has given us freely with no strings attached.
• When you stand before the Lord He will ask you “Did you believe?”. That is boldness.
• 1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
• If we say we love God and we hate our brother, we are a liar.
• How can I thank God for the love He had for me before I loved Him? Love Him and love one another.
• What shall I render unto the Lord? How grievous is it if you wish to give something to someone you care about and are not able to do so?