“The Light Has Come"
[Week 4]
1 John 2:12-17
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.
1 John 2:15
The Big Idea
Growing in a relationship with Jesus starts with becoming a child of God. We will always be His child however we should be growing in maturity with Him.
VS 12-14
John starts off addressing children. Now remember that this letter is to believers. If you have surrendered your life to Jesus as Lord and savior then you are His child. John tells us 2 things and knowing these 2 things is essential to growing in maturity as a chrisitian. #1.) Your sins have been forgiven and #2.) you have a Father. In Christ, we have a good father who forgives us of ALL of our sins.
After addressing the children, John turns his attention to the fathers. These are the men that have reached spiritual maturity and have a good understanding of the Gospel. They have spent many years living for Jesus. With age and maturity comes wisdom. The church needs the wisdom of the older, maturer believers. Most people dream of retiring one day. Many plans are made for retirement. Traveling the world, buying a vacation home or maybe it’s spending more time with kids and grandkids. These are all great things, but what if you could leverage your time, talents and treasures to further the kingdom of God? The church, our community and our world needs the guidance and wisdom of the older generation.
The last group of people that John addresses is the young men. He tells the young men that they are strong and they have overcome the evil one. We need to be strong so that we can overcome the evil one. Satan’s job is to steal, kill and destroy anyone that he can. Unfortunately, he has done a great job of doing that by attacking the family and he usually starts with the father. Statistics show that 1 out of 4 kids go to bed without a father every night. In our world; more women are working than men, more women are going to college than men and more women have drivers’ licenses than men. Unfortunately, this is not just a problem in our world. It’s a problem in the church as well. Today, more women are in church than men. This tells us that Satan is accomplishing what he wanted to do. How can we overcome the evil one? The answer is ultimately Jesus however, with being a disciple of Jesus, there must be spiritual disciplines. In Ephesians 6 we are told to put on the armor of God. Each piece of the armor is used to either protect us or is used to fight off darkness. Prayer, reading the Bible and having a Biblical community is how we will fight the evil one.
Discussion Questions:
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What's one verse that you use to fight satan when he tempts you? If you don’t have one, try to find one this week. Memorize it and use it when you are tempted.
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Why do you think it is important for a father to lead spiritually in the home? What does this look like?
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How are you growing spiritually? What steps have you taken?
VS 15-17
John continues on talking about 3 things that the enemy uses to cause people to take their eyes off Jesus. The first one is lust of the flesh. These are things that make your body (flesh) feel good such as sex, drugs, and alcohol. We can also tend to make good things like friends, family, job or hobbies into God things. These can easily become idols in our lives. The second thing that satan uses is lust of the eyes. Most people think of just sexual lust however, this also can be coveting over something that someone else has. The last thing satan uses is pride of life. This is the desire to be your own god. Arrogance, self-promotion and greed are all symptoms from the pride of life. It’s important that we are aware of these 3 things . John told us to be strong and overcome the evil one. If we know the enemy’s tactics, it will be easier to recognize it when it happens. It usually doesn’t happen overnight either.
Discussion Questions:
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Out of the 3 tactics that the enemy uses, which one are you most likely to struggle with?
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How can you combat the tactics of the enemy?
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How can we pray for you this week?
Important Announcements:
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Session 1 of Heart and Soul will start at 4pm on Nov. 13th.
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Session 1 of Connect Group Leader Training will be at 2pm on Nov. 13th.