Concluding Affirmations

Posted by Beth Grissom on


Question of the day:  When is a time in your life when you had great confidence? or  When is a time you wish you had had great confidence?

Today we complete the book of 1st John.  What are John's last words.  How does he end this book? Let's find out.

READ: 1 John 5:13-21

Concluding Affirmations

13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. 14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
16 If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that you should pray about that. 17 All wrongdoing is sin,and there is sin that does not lead to death.
18 We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them. 19 We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. 20 We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
21 Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.
John is wrapping up this letter, or at least that is as it seems.
He gives a quick overview. There is another famous passage here that has caused all kinds of issues. 
Let's take this paragraph by paragraph.
Paragraph 1 (13-17) 

    1. Confidence
      • Who / what is the confidence in?
      • How important is confidence in our walk with Christ? Why?
      • What does having confidence say to God?
      • What does it say to others/ or how does it impact how we interact with others?
      • How does confidence impact how we pray?
      • Why do we have such a hard time with confidence?
    2. He hears us
      • Is His hearing conditional?
      • Is this hearing just registering the audible?
    Paragraph 2 (18-20)
    1. Praying for each other
      • Should this only be in certain situations? Is John saying there are people we shouldn't pray for?
    2. "sin that leads to death"  "sin that doesn't lead to death"
      • What is this?
    3. Everyone born of God doesn't sin.."
      • What does he mean? 
      • This is really a review... What did we learn about this in chapter 3? (Let's review)
    4. We are children of God
      • What does this mean... really?
      • How does this impact our day to day?
      • How does it impact our relationships?
    5. He has given us understanding...True God
      • This is a promise I think needs to be on t shirts....how does this connect to verse 13?
      • True God.... how does that connect back to verse 13?

    Paragraph 3 (21)
    1. Keep yourself from Idols
      • Why this in this place? 
      • What a drop the mic conclusion.... 
      • Is this important for us today?
    Today studying this passage has brought a whole new understanding of confidence and the importance of it.  I want to be someone who is confident in what God has done for me, and who I am because of it.  Each of us will live differently, treat others differently, pray differently.... (differently needs to be specifically changed to confidence. ).... Each of us will live with confidence, treat others with confidence, pray with confidence, and have the confidence to stay away from idols. 

    Is it any wonder that Satan has put a lot of effort into making sure we are not confident.  Without it we doubt, we focus on self, we don't pray the way we should and we are at risk of falling in the traps of idols....

    Go with CONFIDENCE and 
    KNOW LOVE!!!!!
    LIVE LOVE!!!
    SHARE LOVE!!!!!




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