father’s day sermon 17th june 2012

“Knowing & Making Known”

1 John 2:12-14

Intro to 1 John

WRITER: John the Apostle

DATE: A.D. 90-100

John wrote 3 books in the Bible

Gospel of John

Epistles of John

Revelation

PURPOSE for John’s Writings : For the Gospel of John

John 20:31

But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,

and that by believing you may have life in his name.

PURPOSE for John’s Writings :

For the Revelations of John

Revelation 1:19

Write the things which thou hast seen,

and the things which are,

and the things which shall be hereafter.

Purpose for 1 John

1:3 We proclaim ... so that you also may have fellowship with us ... and with God.

1:4 We write this to make our joy complete.

2:1 I write ... so that you will not sin

5:13 I write.... so that you may know that you have eternal life.

1 John “Family Epistle” The sanctum sanctorum (Latin "Holy o Holies”)

of the New Testament ‘It takes the child of God across the threshold

into fellowship with our Heavenly Father’ • Know - 33 • Love - 35 • Children - 15 • Life - 14 • Father - 13 • Light - 6

1 John

General Outline of 1 John

God is LIGHT 1:1- 2:2

God is LOVE 2:3- 4:21

God is LIFE 5:1-21

1 John 2:12-14 v12 I write to you, dear children,

because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.

v13 I write to you, fathers, because you have known him

who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men,

because you have overcome the evil one.

Cont 1 John 2:12-14

I write to you, dear children, because you have known the Father.

14 I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from

the beginning. I write to you, young men,

because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the

evil one.

1 John 2:12-14 In your bible : Q: What difference do you notice about 1 John 2:12-14 compared to the rest of the letter ? A: It is a different form of ‘writing’ ....

•PROSE where God is sharing his MIND •POETRY where God is sharing his

HEART eg 1 John 2:12-14

1 John 2:12-14 I write to you, dear children*, fathers, young men, dear children*, fathers, young men,

because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name. because you have known him who is from the beginning. because you have overcome the evil one. because you have known the Father. because you have known him who is from the beginning. because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

1 John 2:12-14

Possible explanations:

• Poetic style ?

• Repetition for emphasis ?

• Order ?

Three Groups of People

Dear Children

Young Men

Fathers

God’s Children

Young in the faith

Mature in the faith

SPIR

ITU

AL NIV NLT

Little Children 1 John 2:12 & 13b

I write to you, dear children,

because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.

because you have known the Father.

Little Children : The “Forgiven” Generation

Our Christian Life : BEGINS with Forgiveness Only ground for SALVATION. God alone can forgive.

• He pardons all our sins • He accepts us as righteous in His

sight BUT WHY MUST GOD FORGIVE US ?


GOD Forgives....

• Not because we are so good

• Not because we deserve it

• But all because of the Lord Jesus Christ

and what He did on Calvary

“your sins have been forgiven on account of his name”


v13: “I have written to you, children, because you know the Father.”

Message Bible : “And a second reminder, dear children: You know the Father from personal experience.”

As you know the forgiveness of your sins

you also come to KNOW & experience your heavenly Father.


Receiving FORGIVENESS is just the 1st step

• Only possible because of JESUS ...

and His finished work on the Cross

Acts 4:12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.

•Goal is to KNOW the Father

Young Men 1 John 2:13,14

I write to you, young men,

because you have overcome the evil one.

because you are strong,

and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

Young Men : The “OVERCOMING” Generation

• “young men” in the faith have been able to ‘overcome’, be ‘victorious’, ‘prevailed’....

• Have experienced a release from ...

– the power of sin

– the bondage of satan

the ways of the evil one

John Piper summarizes :

Satan only have Two Main Weapons to use :

i. ACCUSATION.

–accuses us with the sin that we have already done

ii. TEMPTATION.

–tempts us to do the sin we haven’t yet done.


i. ACCUSATION Ref Revelation 12:10

And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have

come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down,

who accuses them day and night before our God.

the ways of the evil one i. ACCUSATION

• All of us have sinned

• Satan accuses us for all the sins we have committed

• Causes guilt / doubt /fear to arise

How then do we counter this ?

By coming to Jesus using 1 Jn 1:9

Confession – Forgiveness - Cleansing

Martin Luther

the ways of the evil one ii. TEMPTATION

• Eg immoral behaviours

• consider also :

• Sickness eg cancer

• unbearable pain,

• loss of loved ones,

• financial hardship,

• marriage tensions,

• political strife,

• natural disasters,

• threatening crime,

• mob violence etc


ii. TEMPTATION

Gk ‘peirasmos’

• Also used for ‘testing’

The reasons :

• all temptation will test our faith, and

•all testing of our faith is a temptation to forsake our faith


ii. TEMPTATION thru LIES Satan tempts / tests in only one way: He lies.

Ref John 8:44-45 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.


ii. TEMPTATION thru LIES

Satan has only TWO MAIN LIES.

• In every TEST, his lie is:

GOD is BAD

•in every TEMPTATION his lie is:

SIN is BETTER

Tempted : “conveys the idea of appealing to the worst part of man, with the wish that he may yield and do the wrong”

Tested : “ appeal to the better part of man, with the desire that he should stand”

Alexander MacLaren

Temptation says, `Do this pleasant thing; do not be hindered by the fact that it is wrong.'

Testing says, `Do this right and noble thing; do not be hindered by the fact that it is

painful.’


Temptation Vs Testing

• Temptation is to make you fall

Testing is to build you up, make you stronger.

• God tempts no one (Ref James 1:13)

God however do ‘test’ people

Young Men : The “Overcoming” Generation

“overcome the evil one”

How is this possible ?

v 14 “because you are ‘strong’...”

Q: Can physical strength defeat satan ?

A: NO, definitely not


It is possible by :

i. The WORD Within

TLB v14b “... and to you young men who are strong with God's Word in your hearts, and have won your struggle against Satan”


i. The WORD Within

Importance of

•Reading the Bible

•Meditating & doing daily devotion

•Memorizing scripture

Eg the temptations of Jesus (Luke 4)


ii. The CHRIST Within

Ref : 1 John 4:4

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them,

because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.


iii. The FAITH Within

Ref : 1 John 5:4

This is the victory that has overcome the world,

even our faith.


Young men,

Continue to be ‘Overcomers’

Always have the WORD, CHRIST & FAITH within you ....

You can and will Stand, Prevailing against the Accusations & Temptations of the evil one.

Fathers : 1 John 2:13, 14

I write to you, fathers,

because you have known him who is from the beginning.

because you have known him who is from the beginning.

Fathers : the ‘KNOWING’ Generation

“to know” used 33 times in 1 John • To be aware, • To understand, • To perceive, • To sure of, • Sense of Intimacy...

Fathers : the ‘Knowing’ Generation Know who ? : “Him who is from the beginning” Refers to Jesus John 1:1-2 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.

John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Fathers : the ‘Knowing’ Generation

• HALLMARK of spiritual maturity :

KNOWING CHRIST

Not “knowing about Christ”

• GOAL for every believer :

CHRISTLIKENESS

‘Addicted to bottle feeds’ May 22, 2012

What is wrong with this picture ?

S’ban: Farah Sauffiah Rahmat is a 14-year-old

‘healthy’ teenager who is addicted to bottle-feeds –

15 bottles a day to be exact. A Form 2 student in

SM Tuanku Ampuan Durah, she is unaffected by public opinion of her

strange addiction.

In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need

someone to teach you the elementary truths of

God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid

food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the

teaching about righteousness.

But solid food is for the mature, who by constant

use have trained themselves to distinguish

good from evil.

So What ! There is a need to grow-up

There is a need to go on to “maturity”

Consider 1 Cor 13:11

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.

When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.

So What !

Our lives must have : an aim

: a purpose

: a goal

John’s sole Aim, Purpose & Goal was

to Know Christ - fully

So What !

Can that also become our goal in life ?

To KNOW CHRIST

if we truly Know God,

we would also want

To MAKE Him KNOWN

God alone have the answer to life.

not only on this earth

but for all eternity.

Father’s Day

Today as we celebrate Father’s Day

My Challenge to ‘Fathers’ in our midst

To adopt as our life’s ambition & purpose –

To Know Christ

and to Make Him Known

beginning with our own family members

and rippling out ...

Quote :

A Father's spiritual temperature will determine the children's emotional state, security and stability.

Christian Business Men’s Research : Father an “active Christian” 75% chance ... If the Mother alone is ...

reduced to 15% chance ...

Lost the Boy

Finished the Book ...

Fathers : the ‘Knowing’ Generation

In order to reach the stage of being a “spiritual fathers” you must have :

i. Known the forgiveness of sin thru Christ along

ii. Overcome the evil one’s accusations & temptations -

with the Word, Christ & Faith within...

iii. Enjoy an intimate & living relationship with Christ

A Tribute to Fathers

Disclaimer

For what you are about to see, any For what you are about to see, any association, reference or linkage to association, reference or linkage to

people dead or alive is purely people dead or alive is purely coincidental and accidental.coincidental and accidental.

Choice of photos depicted were Choice of photos depicted were submitted by one (or more) of your submitted by one (or more) of your

family members of their own volition family members of their own volition and not under any threat or duress.and not under any threat or duress.

Disclaimer

Some photos were sent without Some photos were sent without inforinfor on ‘age’ so I had to ‘guess’. Right or on ‘age’ so I had to ‘guess’. Right or

wrong wrong –– not sure.not sure. Accompanying song track : Accompanying song track :

“FATHER'S LOVE”“FATHER'S LOVE” (by Gary (by Gary ValencianoValenciano))

Do sit back, enjoy the presentation Do sit back, enjoy the presentation

and learn about and learn about “My Daddy & I”.“My Daddy & I”.

“My Daddy & I”

Age 3: MY DAD IS THE BEST

Age 4: My Dad Knows Everything

Age 5 & 6: My Dad Can Do Everything

Age 7: My Dad is my Hero, reading me great adventure stories every night ...

Age 8: My Dad is so much fun He takes me everywhere ...

Age 9: My Dad is so clever... he can even do my homework ...

Age 11: My Dad is cool ... but not very good with computer games...

Age 13: I think my dad may not be so smart after all...

Age 14: I now know my dad is not so smart after all – he’s no longer able to

do my homework ...

Age 15 & 16 : I ‘think’ my dad may be pretty “old fashioned” in his thinking...

Age 17 & 18 : I know my dad is “old fashioned”. He’s always saying “When I was your age ....” for the zillionth time.

Age 19 & 20 : My Dad is becoming ‘over-bearing’ ... always asking & even

intruding into my space – doesn’t he trust me?

Age 21+ : Dad I am pass 21... I can decide for myself ... trust me.

Age 25+ : My dad seems to be objecting to everything I do .... ‘Sigh’

Age 30+ : My Dad does know about things, but then he should, because he’s

been around so long...

Age 35+ : Maybe I should ask Dad what he thinks. After all, he’s had a lot of

experience.

Age 40+ : I’m not doing a single thing until I talk to Dad... He knows quite a lot...

Age 45+ : I wonder how Dad will handle it. He is so wise.....

Age 50+ : I am puzzled, how did my dad manage to raise all of us up ?

.

Age 55+ : It's so difficult to control my own children - how much my dad must

have suffered to bring us up ...

Age 60+ : I’d give anything if Dad were here now so I could talk this over with him. Too bad I didn’t appreciate how

smart he was. I could have learned a lot

from him. MY DAD IS THE BEST

Just wondering why it take so long for us to

learn that -

Blessed Father’s Day

father’s day sermon 17th june 2012

Spiritual