In week 4 of our series, The Life of a Jesus Follower, Pastor Scott taught from 1 John 4:11. The very best God has for you will never be experienced apart from relationships with others. Check out this sermon to learn more!
Sermon Notes
The Life of a Jesus Follower Week 4: I Belong to God’s Family
“Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love on another.” 1 John 4:11
“In the beginning, God…” Genesis 1:1a
"Now, I have a confession to make. Ever since I began to believe in God, I have pictured God as alone. Sovereign ... powerful ... all that. But by Himself. Perhaps the notion sprang from the fact that I felt myself to be alone in the universe. Or perhaps it came from religious images of God seated on a great throne way up there…somewhere. How wonderful to discover that God has never been alone. He has always been Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God has always been a fellowship. This whole Story began with something relational.” John Eldredge
“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness...’” Genesis 1:26a
“Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone…’” Genesis 2:18a
The very best God has for you will never be experienced apart from relationships with others.
The life of a Jesus follower is all about relationships!
A Jesus follower has a relationship with God.
ABIDE
A Jesus follower has relationships with other Jesus followers.
CONNECT
1. Because I Have a Relationship With God, I Have a Relationship With God’s Family
“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God...” John 1:12
“In love, he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will…” Ephesians 1:4b-5
2. It Is Impossible to Be Right With God and Not Be Right With God’s Family
“‘If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.’” John 14:15 NASB
“‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.’” John 15:12
“If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.” 1 John 4:20-21
“Our relationship with God will never be right as long as our relationship with others is wrong.” Alistair Begg
“‘So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.’” Matthew 5:23-24
3. My Relationship With God Grows By Fellowship With God’s Family
“Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.” Proverbs 27:17
Fellowship: living out our relationship with God together with other believers
“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers… And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” Acts 2:42,46-47
What is a Church?
A local community of baptized Jesus followers under biblical leadership, uniting together in doctrine, using their spiritual gifts to serve one another, and being sent to make disciples.
The church is not a place. The church is a people
“Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” 1 John 4:11
