Category: Scripture

“Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world. This is how we know if they have the Spirit of God: If a person claiming to be a prophet acknowledges that Jesus Christ came in a real body, that person has the Spirit of God. But if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and is indeed already here.

But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit that lives in the world. Those people belong to this world, so they speak from the world’s viewpoint, and the world listens to them. But we long to God, and those who know God listen to us. If they do not belong to God, they do not listen to us. That is how we know if someone has the Spirit of truth or the spirit of deception.” (1 John 4: vv. 1-6, NLT)

“This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another. We must not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because Cain had been doing what was evil, and his brother had been doing what was righteous. So, don’t be surprised, dear brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.” (1 John 3: vv. 11-13, NLT)

“Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by or actions. Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God. Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and He knows everything.” (1 John 3: vv. 18-20, NLT)

“And this is His commandment: We must believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. Those who obey God’s commandments remain in fellowship with Him, and He with them. And we know He lives in us because the Spirit He gave us lives in us.” (1 John 3: vv. 23-24, NLT)

“For a child is born to us, a Son is given to us. The government will rest on His shoulders.

And He will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His government and it’s peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of David for all eternity.

The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!” (Isaiah 9: vv. 6-7, NLT)

And now, dear children, remain in fellowship with Christ so that when He returns, you will be full of courage and not shrink back from Him in shame.

Since we know that Christ is righteous, we also know that all who do what is right are God’s children.

See how very much our Father loves us, for He calls us His children, and that is what we are! But the people who who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know Him. Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but He has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He really is. And all who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure just a s He is pure. (1 John 2, vv. 28-29, 1 John 3: vv. 1-3, NLT)

“Dear children, the last hour is here. You have heard that the Antichrist is coming, and already many such antichrists have appeared. From this we know that the last hour has come. These people left our churches, but they never really belonged with us; otherwise they would have stayed with us. When they left, it proved that they did not belong with us.

But you are not like that, for the Holy One has given you His Spirit, and all of you know the truth. So I am writing to you not because you don’t know the truth but because you know the difference between truth and lies. And who is a liar? Anyone who says that Jesus is not the Christ. And anyone who denies the Son doesn’t have the Father, either. But anyone who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

So you must remain faithful to what you have been taught from the beginning. If you will remain in fellowship with the Son and with the Father. And in this fellowship we enjoy the eternal life He promised us.” (1 John 2: vv. 18-25, NLT)

Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the wold offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this wold is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.” (1 John 2: vv. 15-17, NLT)

“Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment for you; rather it is an old one you have had from the very beginning. This commandment – to love one another – is the same message you heard before. Yet is is also new. Jesus lived the truth of this commandment, and you also are living it. For the darkness is disappearing, and the true light is already shining.

If anyone claims,’I am lying in the light’, but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is still living in darkness. Anyone who loves another brother or sister is living in the light and does not cause others to stumble. But anyone who hates another brother or sister is still living and walking darkness. Such a person does not know the way to go, having been blinding by the darkness. (1 John 2: vv. 7-11, NLT)

“This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in Him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. But we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.

If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that His word has no place in our hearts.”
(1 John 1: vv. 5-10, NLT)

“But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord isn’t really being slow in His promise as some people think. N0, He is being patient for your sake. He does not anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear with fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgement.

Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along. On that day, He will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames. But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth He has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness.

And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in His sight.” (1 Peter 3: vv. 8-14, NLT)

“But there were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will cleverly teach destructive heresies and even deny the Master who brought them. In this way, they will bering sudden destruction on themselves. Many will follow their evil teaching and shameful immorality. And because of these teachers, the way of truth will be slandered. In their greed they will make up clever lies to get hold of your money. But God condemned then long ago, and their destruction will not be delayed.” (2 Peter 2: vv. 1-3, NLT)

“These people are as useless as dried-up spring or as a mist blown away by the wind. They are doomed to blackest darkness. They brag about themselves with empty, foolish boasting. With an appeal to twisted sexual desires, they lure back into sin those who barely escaped from a lifestyle of destruction. They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you. And when people escape from the wickedness of the wold by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then get tangled up and enslaved by sin again, they are worse off than ever before. It would be better if they had never know the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life. They prove the truth of this proverb: ‘A dog returns to its vomit.’ And another says, ‘A washed pig returns to the mud.'” (2 Peter 2: vv. 17-22, NLT)