heavy with love

so i am reading through the book of 1 john...which i don't remember if i have mentioned. my pastor back home has had SUCH a great sermon series on this interesting and deep book of the Bible. my favorite sermon was on chapter 3..i'm going to type all of these verses out because every single part of this is so great and so full of meaning and truth for the believer. and before i write out the verses, let me preface them with some sentences i wrote in my journal during his teaching: (and PLEASE look up his sermons online!!! you can find them at www.firstevan.org...under resources & sermons). LOOK THEM UP TODAY!! or you can download his podcast- cole huffman or first evangelical church memphis tn. he also has a blog i have just started following- "where is the fourth?" google that too.
"we are and do absolutely nothing to merit the Love of God, we are GREATLY LOVED..."
"loving 1 another is a function of abiding in Him"
"The life of the 1 who abides in Jesus is defined by relationship and response to JESUS and relationship and response to Jesus' people"
"how we respond to His grace is very telling and very revealing if Christ is in you.--a noticeable quality
here are the verses:
-how great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! and that is what we are! the reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. but we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.
-everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. but you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. and in him is no sin. no one who lives in him keeps on sinning. no one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
-dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. he who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. he who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. the reason the Son of God appeared was to DESTROY the devil's work. no one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. this is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.
overruling theme: God is love, love is of God, we love because He is love.
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