Immerse: Messiah - Flipbook - Page 454
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IMMERSE
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MESSIAH
2:6-21
are living in him. Those who say they live in God should live their lives
as Jesus did.
Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment for you; rather it
is an old one you have had from the very beginning. This old commandment—to love one another—is the same message you heard before. Yet it is
also new. Jesus lived the truth of this commandment, and you also are living
it. For the darkness is disappearing, and the true light is already shining.
If anyone claims, “I am living in the light,” but hates a fellow believer,
that person is still living in darkness. Anyone who loves a fellow believer
is living in the light and does not cause others to stumble. But anyone who
hates a fellow believer is still living and walking in darkness. Such a person
does not know the way to go, having been blinded by the darkness.
I am writing to you who are God’s children
because your sins have been forgiven through Jesus.
I am writing to you who are mature in the faith
because you know Christ, who existed from the beginning.
I am writing to you who are young in the faith
because you have won your battle with the evil one.
I have written to you who are God’s children
because you know the Father.
I have written to you who are mature in the faith
because you know Christ, who existed from the beginning.
I have written to you who are young in the faith
because you are strong.
God’s word lives in your hearts,
and you have won your battle with the evil one.
Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love
the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world
offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see,
and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the
Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with
everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will
live forever.
Dear children, the last hour is here. You have heard that the Antichrist is
coming, and already many such antichrists have appeared. From this we
know that the last hour has come. These people left our churches, but they
never really belonged with us; otherwise they would have stayed with us.
When they left, it proved that they did not belong with us.
But you are not like that, for the Holy One has given you his Spirit,
and all of you know the truth. So I am writing to you not because you
