Yesterday, we finished week #7 of 10 thru The First Letter of John. We looked at the subject of "Knowing God's Spirit" in 1 John 4:1-6 . You can listen here or "Ipod" it here.
Here's your weekend "web bonus" for the week. It regards those strange comments about "another spirit" that is opposing God's spirit in the world. If you want to dive deeper, check out these attributes of God's Spirit, the third "person" of the Trinity:
- Names:
- Called "the Spirit of God": Romans 8:9
- Called "the Spirit of Christ": Romans 8:9
- Called "the Spirit of truth": John 16:13
- Actions:
- God's Spirit continually leads/influences God's family: Romans 8:14
- Characteristics:
- God's Spirit is omnipresent (everywhere at once): Psalm 139:7-10
- God's Spirit is omniscient (all-knowing): 1 Corinthians 2:7-11
Now check out these thoughts on the other spirit...the one that continually opposes God's Spirit...the network of fallen angels (Ephesians 6:11-12) that rebelled against God (Revelation 12:3-4, 7-9) and became "unclean spirits" or "demons."
- Names:
- Called "the spirit of the world" (as opposed to "God"): 1 Corinthians 2:12
- Called "the spirit of antichrist" (as opposed to "Christ"): 1 John 4:3
- Called "the spirit of error" (as opposed to "truth"): 1 John 4:6
- Actions:
- This "spirit" continually leads/influences the devil's family: compare John 8:44 & Ephesians 2:2
- Characteristics:
- This "spirit" fakes omnipresence (but isn't everywhere at once): Mark 5:8-13 & Job 1:6-7
- This "spirit" fakes omnipotence (but isn't all-powerful): Mark 1:25-28 & 2 Peter 2:4
- This "spirit" fakes omniscience (but isn't all-knowing): Matthew 24:36
Also, thank you to those of you who started attending early worship at 9:00 a.m.! I want to give another shout out to everyone to start attending the early worship at 9:00 a.m. Let's love our community enough to start worshiping in the earlier service and free up space for others who want to explore faith in Christ.
P.S. If you want to read ahead for week #8 of 10, we are talking about "Knowing God's Love" from 1 John 4:7-5:3.
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