Walk With Me - 1 John - Grace Bible Church

Confidence! - 1 John 5:13-21

May 28, 2023 • Mike Burt • 1 John 5:13–21

What we know for sure is that God is true and His Grace is real! Nothing fake or artificial - He is genuine! Warren Wiersbe wrote, "Like a child eating cotton-candy at the circus, many people who expect to bite into something real end up with a mouthful of nothing. They waste priceless years on empty substitutes for reality." No fluff in this passage - just real truth that come from real promises based on real faith! Have you ever had to take back something to a store? Most stores will stand behind their products but they need to know that they were the seller - so they ask for a receipt. God gives His receipt with his promises - His Word! In this short paragraphs we have three huge promises - God hears our prayers - God protects us - God keeps His Word. Each promise building on the one before and assuring us of His love and our hope. Join me Sunday as we look at the last few words of 1 John and God gives to us His closing remarks - His receipts. See you Sunday - Pastor Mike

Who do you say I am?

May 14, 2023 • Mike Burt • 1 John 5:5–12, Matthew 16:15, Mark 8:29, Luke 9:20

We will be continuing our way through 1 John on this coming Sunday, May 14th. Join Pastor Mike as he takes us through these verses. See you there!

We Shall Overcome

May 7, 2023 • Denis Garijo • 1 John 5:1–5

"For whoever has been born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith." 1 John 5:4 When I started to walk with God, I believed that it was my responsibility to please Him, to keep His commandments, to do my best to love him and my neighbor, and not allow my old self to be in His way. And that became a burden and the reason for many frustrations as I failed to accomplish it. In this session (1 Jo 5:1-5), John teaches us a lesson that I learned in my faith journey years later. We overcome the world not by our strength but by surrendering to whom we believe, the Son of God. "The Christian faith is ultimately not only a matter of doctrine or understanding or of intellect, it is a condition of the heart." ~ Martyn Lloyd-Jones I appreciate your prayers and look forward to seeing you Sunday. Pastor Denis Garijo

Perfect Love - Imperfect People

April 30, 2023 • Josh Burt • 1 John 4:13–21

This week we conclude Chapter 4 of First John together. John wrote this letter to show Christians dealing with Gnostic Elites, lies, arrogant leadership, and lovelessness - that they might have a “measuring tool” and a structure to know, grow, and flow out God’s LOVE! John wrote to refute and dilute false teachers, all while bringing assurance and unquestionable comfort in Christ’s Life and Love. He goes further though - John writes NOT just to comfort, but also to prod those that are simply “sitting” - to ACT, to DO, and to BE! John writes that the measuring tool and model used for our life is Christ and His Love, and our comfort is also in Christ and His Love. This brings us to the end of chapter 4. We get to look at Christ - Who IS Love - and we get to see that His plan for us was NOT to simply pray a prayer, or was not to simply change a habit or join a “group” - IT WAS TO BE LOVED and to SHARE LOVE! I look forward to opening up Chapter 4 together and seeing how John writes to energize us and to encourage us to be like and love like Christ. See you this Sunday at Grace. - Pastor Josh

Lord, teach me to love

April 23, 2023 • Denis Garijo • 1 John 4:7–12

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.” 1 John 4:7 As we live in this world, we notice that people have different meanings for Love. We could say that, in general, they seek their own interests or needs. All those voices can distract us from how God loves us and how we need to love one another. This Sunday, we will be all about Love, God’s Love, and His commandment to love one another. “There is no light in the planet but that which cometh from the sun; there is no light in the moon but that which is borrowed, and there is no true love in the heart but that which cometh from God.” Rev. C.H. Spurgeon I appreciate your prayers and look forward to seeing you Sunday. Pastor Denis Garijo

Don’t you believe it! - 1 John 4:1-6

April 16, 2023 • Mike Burt • 1 John 4:1–6

John discusses a very interesting topic: false spirits and false prophets. This topic shows up quite frequently, both in the New and Old Testaments. (like in Deut 18:14-21, 1 Kings 22:13-28, and Matthew 12:43-45). I hope to show how John teaches us is how to discern whether or not if a spirit (teaching, philosophy, worldview, passion) is from God, or something else… John starts off the passage with a critical command. He tells us: Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. (1 John 4:1) Something that I think we often tend to forget is that outside of Jesus, God, the Holy Spirit, and Satan, the Bible teaches us that there are many spiritual forces that reside in our world (Eph 6:12 – the ‘armor of God verses). We will often think of them as “supernatural forces,” far away - but they are closer than we think. These forces can even exist in everyday things like materialism, or racism, extremism etc. John describes these forces as “from the world” and support the values of the world. Sunday I will show that it all rests on Jesus. If the spirit (worldview) acknowledges that Jesus is Lord and is from God, then we know it’s legitimate. But, if the spirit fails to acknowledge Jesus, who is from God, then it’s not from God, but rather, is the “spirit of the antichrist” as John discussed in Chapters 2 and 3. Let's not be fooled! Come Sunday and hear how God’s Word protects us – by teaching truth and testing error. Pastor Mike “Jesus will be at the center of every truth!”

HOW TO LOVE

March 26, 2023 • Mike Burt • 1 John 3:11–24

“Grace teaches us that God loves because of who He is - not because of who we are!” Phillips Brooks John returns to a couple of great memories of times with Jesus - all around the theme of love - genuine and shared. "This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another." (3:11) It's amazing that we Christians need to hear the message, the command, of love so often -- and still we don't get it. Our churches are too often filled with selfish, bickering people. The world knows the church for its judgmentalism and rigidness, not for its love and joy. How very sad. This should not be our reptutation! Sunday, John will remind us to love first - love most - love always! There will be disappointments and disappointing people - let it be ‘water off a ducks back’ - only love will ‘waterproof’ us from sin and sinners! No one but God can teach us how to truly love - lets spend our time seeing His love for us and how He showed love to us! Then we must go out and live this love in a sin darkened world - bringing the light of His love in us! “The Christian does not think God will love us because we are good but that God will make us good because He loves us!” CS Lewis See you Sunday - bring someone who needs the love of God in their life! Pastor Mike

Hope in Him - Abide in Him

March 19, 2023 • Josh Burt • 1 John 2:28—3:10

“A true Christian does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us!” - C.S. Lewis As Christians we often look to a “call to action” or “to-do list” or “a project/program” to guide and inspire us. These things tend to fill our schedule, our thought, and our life. They are NOT intentionally “wrong,” but can distract us from the unchanging, immeasurable, incomparable, and undeniable LOVE of Christ. We often can think of ourselves with too much “me…” and not near enough “Him…” when it comes to faith, following, and framework. Although, it normally begins “innocently” - it leads to us showing an “ I in Christ" instead of “Christ in me.” We become us-centered, and that leads to “us” dependent for our faith. This week, as we open the passage, we will see that it is Christ - and that is it! Faith, abiding, and love in Christ alone. I am so excited to open up 1 John and dive into this passage together. I am so looking forward to seeking Him, and together, seeing that we can have Confidence in God, true Connection with God, and that we can see the Care of God! See you this Sunday! - Pastor Josh "When you feel like you can't take it anymore, look to Jesus and take it a little more.” - John Piper

Antichrists, Anointing, and Abiding

March 12, 2023 • Mike Burt • 1 John 2:18–27

“God never made a promise that was too good to be true.” Dwight L. Moody He is that good! John has been teaching his "little children" how to tell truth from a lie, how to tell if a person is really a Christian or not. It doesn’t depend on just what a person says, but also what they do. In the dark days of persecution and opposition, John writes the all three age groups warning them of ‘antichrists’ that will come. As I said last week, this is not a final Antichrist as in Revelation (John well knew that as he is the author of Revelations) but the many who may come as substitutes and imitations of the true and living God. Jesus warned the disciples, saying in Mark 13:22” For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, the elect.” Sunday we will visit the challenge of ‘antichrists’ in our life and how to resist them. We will also deal with the thorny question about some that spring up in the faith but do not stay faithful. Were they believers? They did not lose their faith so maybe they never had it? Tough call! Finally, I will take up the only real defense we have – the faithful ‘abiding’ in Christ. Too often we are like the toddler at the mall, wandering and weaving in and out of aisles and displays to suddenly realize we are far from mom – lost! How to avoid that panic – stay close! Abide! We have the truth – the Word of God. We have promises of God – we may abide. We just need to refuse the ‘antichrists’ of our age and stay close – see you Sunday, Pastor Mike Don’t be fooled – “Just because someone is sincere in his conviction does not mean that it is true. It is possible to be sincerely wrong.” Alistair Begg

GROWING IN CHRIST TO GROW OTHERS!

March 5, 2023 • Mike Burt • 1 John 2:12–18

“If you don't see the greatness of God then all the things that money can buy become very exciting. If you can't see the sun you will be impressed with a street light. If you've never felt thunder and lightning you'll be impressed with fireworks. And if you turn your back on the greatness and majesty of God you'll fall in love with a world of shadows and short-lived pleasures.” John Piper I am back! (Lord willing) and done with a brief bout of Covid – thanks Denis and Grace for being patient and understanding. Sunday I will share one of the most important messages in 1 John – are we growing? Our Grace motto is Growing in Christ to Grow Others – but are we? Sunday I will give the elements of maturity from 1 John and even a short quiz – not a pop quiz – I am telling you its coming! It will not be hard but the challenges will be. As Piper says above we must not ‘fall in love with a world of shadows’ – join me Sunday as we will walk together through the writings of John to ‘fathers’, ‘children’, ‘young men’ both past and present. We will hear the warnings from John about the emptiness of the World and the deceptions of the antichrists. Then the quiz – but don’t be scared – the answers are all in the Scriptures – just come and listen – you will do fine! See you Sunday, Pastor Mike “Death should not be our plan for separation from the world!”

TRUE AND FALSE

February 26, 2023 • Denis Garijo • 1 John 2:1–11

Pilate asked Jesus – ‘what is truth?’ (John 18:38) – the irony of the question was that Truth was literally staring him in the face – Jesus is Truth! John begins chapter 2 with the ideal desire of God – do not sin – yet we know our frailty and our weaknesses – it will happen. So when it does what do we do? Make accusations as Adam and Eve did or give excuses like Achan did to take loot from Jericho or doing what seems right in our own eyes as the end of Judges? When sin is in our life – we do what John said in chapter one verse 9 – confess! How do we know that is enough? It is not about us it is about Jesus and what He did. Jesus is the one making intercession for us. But there is something unique about this legal defense. This defense before the Judge is not based on our life or actions, but on Jesus’ life and Jesus’ actions. Jesus only defends those who confess their guilt. He does not defend those who maintain innocence. Our defense works completely different. If we try to plead not guilty to the crimes, we will be found guilty and bear the consequences on our own. However, if we confess our sins and admit that we are guilty of the charges, we have Jesus our Advocate who pleads for mercy on our behalf on the basis of his own perfect life. Jesus is the righteous one, not us, in this defense. Jesus has the ability to help and is the only one who can help. We need a righteous intercessor. Anything less would leave sinner without the sure access to the God of mercy. Sunday we will talk about walking forgiven – walking in obedience and walking in love. So I say to you all – 'Come walk with me!' See you Sunday, Pastor Mike “The Christian man must aim at that complete obedience to God in which life finds its highest happiness, its greatest good, its perfect consummation, its peace.” William Barclay

70TH ANNIVERSARY and ANNUAL MEETING 2022

February 19, 2023 • Mike Burt

What a great Sunday we have coming. I will take us back 70 years and we can review the hand of God on a brave group of people founding a Church in Columbia beginning in 1953. I will try to show God’s blessings and providence in building a family to ‘hold forth the Word of Life!’ Sunday I will share Grace Past – 1953-2021 and then we will take a look at last year’s ministries (2022) as we look at Grace Present. With this will be the new Elders for Grace and a look at God’s supply of resources and next years budget. We will share missions and passions! We can truly say together that God is Good. Finally I will address some vision of where we feel like God is directing our Church Family. I will take us back to our Legacy Statements (drafted in 2006) and into the Liberia Project for our 70th Anniversary Celebration. I will even mention some relevant topics that we are praying about like our Youth Ministry leaders, Phase #2 and even my distant retirement. I will end with a reminder that this Church is not ours – it is the Lord’s! We are servant leaders and our prayer is that for decades to come (until the Lord returns) we should be found faithfully ‘Holding Forth the Word of Life!' Hope to see you Sunday for our 70th Anniversary and our 2022 Annual Meeting! Pastor Mike

Threat of Sin to Fellowship

February 12, 2023 • Mike Burt • 1 John 1:5–10

In all of the New Testament, there is one verse that most clearly that states that we are to confess our sins to God to obtain forgiveness: 1 John 1:9. So, we Christians are taught from the earliest age that we must ask Him for forgiveness in order to stay in good standing - to remain in fellowship with Him and receive His blessings. So every night before bed we are trying to remember all of our unrighteous deeds and thoughts to once again become clean in His eyes. (BTW – best to confess at the soonest moment – hard to recall everything!) That’s why 1 John 1:9 has the reputation of being the “Christian bar of soap”. Sunday we will walk through the bright halls of God’s Grace as He is the Light! John contrasts this eternal truth with our understanding of darkness and light – but we must know the He is Light and the Light of the World. So what do we do when darkness invades our soul by sin? How can we be ‘cleansed’ before God? By confession of our sin – the God intended. We will talk about sin and its origin and consequences – we will talk about how addictive and subtle sin can be. We will wrap up with a clear definition of what it means to confess and what God promises when we do – See you Sunday! I suggest you wash up before you get here. Pastor Mike “The essence of sin is we human beings substituting ourselves for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for us. We…put ourselves where only God deserves to be; God…puts himself where we deserve to be.” John Stott

Witnesses to Life

February 5, 2023 • Mike Burt • 1 John 1:1–4

Walk with me! 2023 Jesus called to 4 men early on in His ministry with the simple appeal – ‘follow me!’ Those fishermen did and it changed their lives and they changed the World through the message of the Gospel. I have chosen 3 accounts of men who followed the Word of God for this year’s sermon schedule. We begin with John and his summary of faith after 60 years following the empty tomb. What a view – God has been good and Jesus has been true. I want us to hear the words of the aged Apostle (the last remaining Apostle) and feel the trust and the joy he still has in Christ. Three things are highlighted for us in this introduction: A relationship, a fellowship, and a joy that follows. But it must all begin with this matter of relationship, for John is concerned first about the family of God. John and Peter and Paul all have different ministries, as I have shared in other message series and sermons. It was Peter's task to talk about the kingdom of God, Paul about the church of God, but John is concerned with the family of God. These are all the same thing, but they are viewed from three different aspects. It is into the intimacy of the family circle, now, that the Apostle John takes us. This letter can be properly described as introducing us to life with the Father, what it means to be in the family of God. If you read through the letter, as I hope you will many times while we are studying together, you will find there are several reasons John gives for writing this letter- the first is in our beginning message: "And we are writing this that your joy may be complete." (1 John 1:4) Eternal Life is witnessed by the Apostles and preached by the believers – this week I will take us through the first 4 verses to savor this Eternal Life – and its Experiences, Expressions and Enjoyments! Even into his 90’s John is still thrilled by the touch of God through the promises of Christ – come and hear! Walk with me this year in God’s Word and walk with someone else as we Grow in Christ to Grow Others! Pastor Mike

Bear Fruit

January 29, 2023 • Denis Garijo • John 15:1–16

"You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you." John 15:16 As we have been studying the Life of Christ this month, we have seen how He interacted with His disciples. First, He invited them to "Come and See" who He is. And then Jesus invited them to follow Him, and the seekers became followers. Last Sunday, Pastor Mike shared with us that Jesus gave another invitation for them to become "Fishers of men," and the followers became disciples. This Sunday, we will explore the last teachings of Jesus before His crucifixion. He illustrates his last invitation to His disciples, speaking about the Vine, branch, and fruit. It's a beautiful and encouraging passage where we learn an essential truth as Jesus's disciples. I appreciate your prayers and look forward to seeing you on Sunday. Pastor Denis Garijo