Gary Gleans

Beloved,   let us love one another, for love is from God, and   whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.    Anyone who does not love does not know God, because   God is love.    In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that   God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.    In this is love,   not that we have loved God   but that he loved us and sent his Son to be   the propitiation for our sins.    Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.    No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and   his love is perfected in us. Love is a communicable attribute of God.  Communicable means that He shares this attribute with us and expects us to demonstrate it to others.  Only God is omniscient or all-knowing so that is an uncommunicable attribute.  Love is God’s very identity and He is l...

Beloved,   do not believe every spirit, but   test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for   many   false prophets   have gone out into the world.    By this you know the Spirit of God:   every spirit that confesses that   Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,   and every spirit   that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and   now is in the world already.  Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for   he who is in you is greater than   he who is in the world.    They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and   the world listens to them.    We are from God.   Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know   the Spirit of truth and   the spirit of error. The primary difference between believers and ...

By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.    Beloved,   if our heart does not condemn us,   we have confidence before God;   and   whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and   do what pleases him.    And this is his commandment,   that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and   love one another,   just as he has commanded us.    Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And   by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us. One of Satan’s tactics is to cause true believers to doubt the reality of their salvation.  Assurance of salvation is a precious gift of the Holy Spirit that is given to true believers that recognize their failures, entrust themselves to Christ, and walk in obedience to...

By this we know love, that   he laid down his life for us, and   we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.    But   if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet   closes his heart against him,   how does God's love abide in him?    Little children, let us not   love in word or talk but in deed and   in truth. Since love is the primary characteristic of those who follow Christ, it is important that we know what love looks like.  We need look no further than the example of Jesus, because He is love personified.  We are called to love one another in the same way that Jesus loved us. LOVE IS SACRIFICIAL: The supreme example of love is the Lord Jesus Christ.  His sacrificial love on our behalf is unfathomable.  Certainly, His sacrifice on the cross is the apex of his suffering, but His entire life is an example of sacrificial love.  The incarnation in and of it...

For   this is the message that you have heard from the beginning,   that we should love one another.    We should not be like   Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him?   Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous.    Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you.    We know that   we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.    Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that   no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. Since we have children of God, abide in Christ and have His spirit dwelling in us, there are realities that are expected to be true of our lives.  A stark contrast should be visible between believers and those who do not know the Lord.  God’s family has certain traits that are unmistakable and vital to our mission. WE HAVE LOVE FOR ONE...

Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness;   sin is lawlessness.   You know that   he appeared in order to   take away sins, and   in him there is no sin.    No one who abides in him keeps on sinning;   no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.    Little children,   let no one deceive you.   Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous.    Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was   to destroy the works of the devil.    No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.    By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God,   nor is the on...

See   what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called   children of God; and so we are. The reason why   the world does not know us is that   it did not know him.    Beloved, we are   God's children   now, and what we will be   has not yet appeared; but we know that   when he appears we shall be like him, because   we shall see him as he is.    And everyone who   thus hopes in him   purifies himself as he is pure. The love of God is unconditional and sacrificial.  Every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is the object of this amazing love.  We did nothing to earn it.  In fact, we deserved just the opposite of it.  God’s grace has blessed us with this amazing love that He has lavished on us.  This love results in at least these four realities. WE ARE CHILDREN OF GOD: There is no other explanation as to why or how we could be children of God, o...

I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you.     But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.     And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.     If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. The work of the Gospel belongs to Christ.  We are simply required to abide in Him.  Those who strive to “earn” their salvation have no salvation and will eventually fall away.  Salvation is a gift from God that can only be received by grace through faith.  We are called to abide in Him as our principle means of standing fi...