09 - Walking In Abidance - BridgeWay Christian Church

09 - Walking In Abidance

1 John 2:28-3:3

August 14, 2022 • Pastor Ronald H. Gann • 1 John 2:28–29, 1 John 3:1–3

The apostle John was a vocal proponent of the doctrine of eternal security—namely, that God secures a believer from ever permanently falling away (John 6:37-39; 10:28-29 )—just as he was also a proponent of a believer’s personal responsibility to abide and persevere in Christ (John 15:1, 4-5). As such, John gives three evidences in 1 John 2:28-3:3 that mark a genuine believer's spiritual condition, with abidance in Christ being first on the list (followed by our position in Christ as God's children and our pursuit of purification and righteousness).

01 - Introduction: Walking In Truth & Love

May 29, 2022 • Pastor Ronald H. Gann

The three small letters written by the apostle John—1-3 JOHN—were written to the third-generation church in around Asia minor who had lost the conviction of the first-generation church (and even struggled to maintain the beliefs of the second-generation church). John saw flagrant deceptions accepted as gospel truth and a lazy church that was slow to correct and quick to capitulate. Out of his remarkably retentive memory—no doubt quickened, inspired, and energized by the Holy Spirit—John wrote 1-3 JOHN to remind his readers about what it means to walk worthily in the manner of Christ.

02 - The Word Of Life

June 5, 2022 • Pastor Ronald H. Gann • 1 John 1:1–4

In the person of Jesus Christ there appears to be a living dichotomy, where two contrasting things exist in one man at the same time. That is, Jesus has both a divine nature and human nature. As such, he is the God-man who, as the 'word of life', brings life everlasting to those who believe in him as the Word of God made flesh. But how, exactly, does this wonderful truth affect and effect believers? In 1 John 1:1-4, the apostle John reminds us that the 'word of life' allows us to be in fellowship and communion with God whereby the life and likeness of Christ in us becomes more evident to those around us.

03 - Walking In The Light

June 19, 2022 • Pastor Ronald H. Gann • 1 John 1:5–10

To have genuine fellowship with a holy God, we must walk in the light, as God Himself is in the light. It’s easy to claim to have fellowship with God—as so many self-deceived people do—but it’s another thing altogether for it to be true. And so, in 1 John 1:5-10, the apostle John provides a litmus test that, to his inspired way of thinking, was sure to separate the sheep from the goats, the wheat from the tares, the straw from the chaff, and the authentic from the inauthentic. Let he who has ear to hear, let him hear!