What difference does it make when we depend on the love God is having for us? Part 1 1 John 4:7– 18 (+19) 4:16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.1 John 4:16 (NIV84)

1 John 4:1 (NIV84) 4:1 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. “Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction brings together mindfulness meditation and yoga.”

1 John 4:1 (NIV84) 4:1 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. yoga - the postures are designed to incarnate Hindu deities, sacred animals, spiritual power, and universal divinity.

1 John 4:1 (NIV84) 4:1 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. Christians who practice yoga - They are most likely unaware of the meaning of Hindu rituals within the practice of yoga.

1 John 4:1 (NIV84) 4:1 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. Recognize the practice of yoga as an antichrist activity.

Biblical meditation “The practice of turning each truth we learn about God into matter for reflection before God, leading to prayer and praise to God.” J. I. Packer

Christian meditation... has Biblical content, and a purpose to strengthen our relationship with Christ.

Psalm 19:14 (NIV84) 14 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. Psalm 104:34:14 (NIV84) 34 May my meditation be pleasing to Him, as I rejoice in the Lord.

Psalm 119:148 (NIV84) 148 My eyes stay open through the watches of the night, that I may meditate on Your promises. Psalm 119:99 (NIV84) 99 I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on Your statutes.

Psalm 119:97 (NIV84) 97 Oh, how I love Your law! I meditate on it all day long. Psalm 119:48 (NIV84) 48 I lift up my hands to Your commands, which I love, and I meditate on Your decrees.

Psalm 119:27 (NIV84) 27 Let me understand the teaching of Your precepts; then I will meditate on Your wonders. Psalm 119:15 (NIV84) 15 I meditate on Your precepts and consider Your ways.

Psalm 48:9 (NIV84) 9 Within Your temple, O God, we meditate on Your unfailing love. Psalm 1:2 (NIV84) 2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night.

Joshua 1:8 (NIV84) 8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

Biblical meditation … requires thinking about what God is saying to us.

Look for the big picture idea first.

1 John 4:7–11 (NIV84) 4:7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who (does) loves has been born of God and knows God. 4:8 Whoever does not love (has not been born of God and ) does not know God, because God is love. 4:9 This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. 4:10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 4:11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

We should love one another because of God’s love for us!

How does love come from God? How did God show His love for us? How does God’s love for us create in us an obligation to love others? How does God’s love for us create within us the desire to love others? How does God’s love for us provide the resources for us to love others?

Why does God want us to be a vehicle of transmitting His love to others?

A chiasm the use of bilateral symmetry around a central axis. A………. B…… C… D C’… B’…… A’………

How does love come from God? How did God show His love for us? 1 John 4:9 (NIV84) 4:9 This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. Jesus did not only deliver a package of love from God, He was the package.

1 John 4:7–11 (NIV84) 4:7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who (does) loves has been born of God and knows God. 4:8 Whoever does not love (has not been born of God and ) does not know God, because God is love. 4:9 This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. 4:10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 4:11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

What happens to us as a result of Christ’s sacrificial love?

This kind of love gives at great cost to the giver because the receiver doesn’t have the ability to compensate for the gift about to be received.

What is this gift that is God’s love? It is God’s Son as our atoning sacrifice.

It is this love from God that gives an exclusively unique gift, namely Jesus Christ our atoning sacrifice, that we are called on to keep giving out to others. And, we are to keep giving it in a similar manner as Jesus gave it.

“God is love” – that can only be said of the God of the Bible, the God whose name is Father, Son and Spirit.

In Jesus, in the gospel, we receive the great good news that the living God not only shows but is self-giving love.

The Lord’s Prayer 9 “This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name, 10 Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’ Matthew 6:9–13 (NIV84)

We celebrate Communion with our Lord at His Table