A SERIOUS WARNING

Join your Calvary Chapel family today (Sunday, August 10, at 10:00 a.m.) in the main sanctuary or online through our website (www.calvaryinv.com), Facebook, and YouTube (Calvary Inverness) as we continue our series on the book of 1 John (4:1-6).

John was at the end. His body was frail, his breathing labored, and the things that make life enjoyable were few and far between. He had no complaints. His memory was still active.

He could recall those early and heady days as a young teen when he encountered Jesus of Nazareth for the first time. When Jesus called, John left his father’s business and began a journey that would change him forever.

Now, more than sixty years since the death and resurrection of Jesus, he had come to Ephesus to live out the time the Lord gave him as their pastor. As the only surviving Apostle, he knew his task. There wasn’t anything he would face that he wasn’t prepared for.

He understood the wiles of the devil, and yet he rested in the power of God’s might. He could minister to the church knowing that Jesus was with him night and day, and would not leave his side.

Knowing that his time was short, John made a decision, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to write a letter with a few major themes. He wrote that they needed to love God and one another. It was short, to the point, but all that was required.

They also needed to know and be prepared to defend the deity of Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, who became man, that He might die for the sins of all mankind, for there were those who had brought destructive and blasphemous heresies that denied His deity or His humanity.

By keeping his thoughts concise, he could use the tool of repetition so that the truths he wrote would be seeded into the memory of the church and simple enough that they could live by them. And they would be able with efficiency to refute the lies of the false teachers and self-appointed prophets, and exalt the name of Jesus Christ.

May our church family realize that the same purpose God had for the early church still applies today. May our love for Him, His Word, and each other, along with our desire to serve, continue to grow until His return.

In His Strong Love,

Pastor