Immerse: Messiah - Flipbook - Page 456
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IMMERSE
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MESSIAH
3:13–4:8
killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because Cain had been doing
what was evil, and his brother had been doing what was righteous. So don’t
be surprised, dear brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.
If we love our brothers and sisters who are believers, it proves that we
have passed from death to life. But a person who has no love is still dead.
Anyone who hates another brother or sister is really a murderer at heart.
And you know that murderers don’t have eternal life within them.
We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we
also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. If someone has
enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows
no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person?
Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show
the truth by our actions. Our actions will show that we belong to the truth,
so we will be confident when we stand before God. Even if we feel guilty,
God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything.
Dear friends, if we don’t feel guilty, we can come to God with bold confidence. And we will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey
him and do the things that please him.
And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son,
Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us. Those who
obey God’s commandments remain in fellowship with him, and he with
them. And we know he lives in us because the Spirit he gave us lives in us.
Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit.
You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there
are many false prophets in the world. This is how we know if they have the
Spirit of God: If a person claiming to be a prophet acknowledges that Jesus
Christ came in a real body, that person has the Spirit of God. But if someone
claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus,
that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist,
which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here.
But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than
the spirit who lives in the world. Those people belong to this world, so
they speak from the world’s viewpoint, and the world listens to them. But
we belong to God, and those who know God listen to us. If they do not
belong to God, they do not listen to us. That is how we know if someone
has the Spirit of truth or the spirit of deception.
Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from
God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone
who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
