August 4, 2024 – Dear John Letters -Testing - 1, 2, 3

There are many convincing voices in the world, but you cannot believe everything you hear. Sometimes, with computer-generated graphics, you cannot believe everything you see. We must “test the spirits”. This will enable us to stand firm in the One who is greater than the world, Jesus the Christ.

I John 4:1-12 1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. 4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. 7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

Other sermons you may also like

Something More – One Sermon Series

Masterpiece – One Sermon Series

A Joyful Heart – A New Heart Sermon Series

A Persevering Heart – A New Heart Sermon Series

Page [tcb_pagination_current_page] of [tcb_pagination_total_pages]

First

Last

About the speaker

David Langewisch

First and foremost you need to know I am a sinner who has been cleansed by the blood of Jesus. I believe my life is fully in him. I feel good about my training to be a pastor. However, my heart's desire is to simply be a servant of Christ, used by him to help people experience fullness of life in him. Sometimes I think I’m smart. Sometimes I think I’m funny. But I count all of this as a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ and being found in him. My favorite book of the Bible is Romans, and if you have to pin me down, my favorite chapter is Romans 8. Personally, I think this matters more than knowing I’m from Minnesota, or that I was graduated from Lutheran schools starting with elementary school. Curiosity might lead you to ask about my wonderful wife, Lynn, and four children, but I would probably exaggerate about their greatness and how helpful would that be? If you really want to know other positions I’ve held, honors I’ve received, etc., you can ask and I will try to remember. But when you walk away from our conversation, this is what I want you to remember about me – I am a sinner who has been cleansed by the blood of Jesus and I believe my life is fully in him. And if, in my contact with you, some of this rubs off on you, and you share the same perspective with greater conviction, I will count it a blessing.