26 Jul Dear John | Part 3 “The Snare of Seeking Self”
KEY VERSE: 1 John
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Online Giving** Regardless of where and when we will able to gather again, we continue to run our ministries and support our missions which bring the Gospel to a lost and frightened world. We are looking to our church family to continue faithfully giving. For those of you who give manually, please consider giving online at https://waterschurch.org/give/. Otherwise, you can mail checks to Waters Church, 57 John L Dietsch Square North Attleborough, MA 02760 and place your campus’ name in the notation field. We are very thankful for your support and understanding!
41411 – text waterschurch (all one word) to stay updated with info.
FACEBOOK GROUPS:To join the groups, just go to the Waters Church FB page and go to groups and join the ones you want. Make sure you join the Life Group (group) so we can get people interested in joining a Life group. The Heach Coaches and I will be moderating the group and adding topics for discussion.
CLASSES; Baptism class is every 4th Sunday of the Month. at 11:30 / Growth Track runs the first 3 Sundays every month at 11:30 – this is a one and done registrants only need to attend one session / Starting Point runs every 1st and 3rd Sunday at 11:30 – details and descriptions can be found on the registrations which are located under Events on the SGL Hub.
TELEPHONE LIVE STREAMING – this is now available. The number to dial is 1-855-352-9749.
ALL ANNOUNCEMENTS, CLASSES AND EVENTS CAN BE FOUND AT: waterschurch.guide
Point 1 – As with life, there are stages of growth in faith.
1 John 2:12-14
John is writing to “Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, Children of All Ages.” He is the ring leader, getting everyone’s attention. John wants all to understand what he is saying. Children are young in their faith (they are not literally children but those who are just starting out). Father’s nurture their children, or they may fall away due to the struggles they have with the Evil one. We cannot stay in any of these groups, we have to grow.
Growing in our faith is necessary and it is real. Babies can’t eat solid food because they lack the ability to swallow it properly. Some Christians are still eating spiritual mush because they can’t swallow the truth.
Q. Even though we know the truth, what are some truths in the Word of God you have found difficult to swallow and why?
The Milk Diet is drinking milk all the time. It works, but we cannot stay on that diet. There are ill-effects after a while. The Meat Diet is just eating meat all the time. Its good for us but we need to be balanced eating other foods as well. There are ill-effects over a long period of just eating meat.
1 Peter 2:1-2
Pure spiritual Milk is pure doctrine. We can know about Sanctification, Grace, the Holy Spirit, and Forgiveness; but If we only just know about these things and not understand them, then we have not really tapped in to what they mean and how important they are.
Hebrews 5:13-14
We need solid food, then we can represent our faith appropriately to people we come in contact with. We follow doctrines because we live on God’s every word (Matthew 4:4). We need to grow up so that we can learn what to cling to and what to let go of. Because what we cling to, is where we remain. We need to live the things we have been eating in order to understand why the doctrines are key to our belief. If not, then we are just chewing on spiritual mush.
Q. How have you grown since you first became a Christian , how long did it take you to go from drinking milk to eating meat?
Point 2 – Be careful what you grab it may grab back.
1 John 2:15-17
Who ever does the will of God abides forever. The will of God is that we love God with all of our heart, soul, and mind (Matthew 22:27), this is Agape (selfless) love. Do not Agape the world. We can enjoy things but not Agape them. There are different kinds of love:
Philia – affectionate love ; Ludus – playful love
We can enjoy things like money, career, family, popularity, but we cannot not Agape love them. They should not take all or our efforts and become so important to us. This is seeking self, wanting this, needing this. Having a desire (strong craving) for what is forbidden.
QA. What has the potential to become so important to you that you are in danger of desiring it more than seeking God (goes along with question below)?
Point 3 – Be Careful who you trust in, they may have set the trap.
See Monkey Trap video by clicking below. Segment starts at 1:03 seconds and ends at 1:38 seconds.
‘If he had the sense to drop the seed he could free his hand.’
The hunter (Satan) sets the trap and puts it out there for us. When we yearn after something so much, it will trap us.
QB. What trap had Satan set to reel you in to that potential danger? (Example: money becoming so important to you that you choose a career [trap] that keeps you away from church/family).
1 John 2:18-23
He is not the Antichrist that will come in the end times but the antichrists that come before and deny that Jesus is God. The ones who deny the necessity of Jesus, that He is fully God and fully man who came to sacrifice Himself for us. If we dont understand this, we will get trapped. Hunters don’t hope the trap sets itself, they purposefully make it enticing, as does Satan. If we are still on Milk any enticing Meat will look good so much so that we may start to believe or look into: Spiritual oneness, Energy healers, all you need is to be a good person. These don’t have to be things that destroy us, but even worse they just do enough to distract from us what God wants for us.
Seeking self says I want to feel this way, I need to understand this in my life. I want all the answers.
Point 4 – Let go of the world and grab ahold of the Word.
1 John 2:24-27
Abide means to remain or continue in. We can rely on the Word of God fully, it is unchanging and has always existed. Jesus is the Word and He always existed.
John 1:1 –
As believers the anointing abides in us and with that we can live fully on every Word that comes from the mouth of God and avoid becoming snared by the world, the antichrists and Satan himself.
Don’t get stuck abiding in things that don’t matter.
Q. What changes can you make to ensure you are fully abiding in the Word of God and not get trapped by the world?
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