| By Andy Moyle | 3 mins 19 secs | 0 Comments
The last book of the New Testament! Well done if you have studied the daily Scriptures and read the commentaries in the Gateway Church ‘New Testament in a Year’ up to this point! Only one more book to go. And what a book of hope! ‘Revelation presents the final chapter in God’s story of salvation […]
| By Andy Moyle | 3 mins 18 secs | 0 Comments
I love that, at the very start of his letter, Jude reminds us of some key aspects of our identity before diving into the main part of his letter. The NLT version says ‘I am writing to all who have been called by God the Father, who loves you and keeps you safe in the […]
| By Andy Moyle | 4 mins 0 secs | 0 Comments
Whilst many of the letters in the New Testament are written for the benefit of a whole church or group of churches, 3 John is simply a letter from one friend to another, brimming with love and familiarity. The Oxford dictionary definition of a friend is ‘a person with whom one has a bond of […]
| By Andy Moyle | 1 min 3 secs | 0 Comments
A Few Good Men is a great film. Tom Cruise plays a rookie military lawyer who has to defend a squad of marines accused of murder. They claimed they were acting on orders. Jack Nicholson plays a tough guy marine officer. One climactic scene has Nicholson on the stand being interrogated by the Cruise character. Cruise is […]
| By Andy Moyle | 2 mins 11 secs | 0 Comments
Everyone who believes (present tense) has been born of God (past perfect tense). John is a proponent of eternal security of the believer. Once saved, always saved. Being born again is evidenced by loving God, v.1, obeying Him, v.2, and overcoming the world by faith, v.4. This, surprisingly, is the first use of the word […]
| By Andy Moyle | 1 min 14 secs | 0 Comments
This is my favourite portion of the letters by John, the Apostle of Love. Largely because of v.18 – “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment and whoever fears has not been perfected in love”. What is the opposite of love? Normally one […]
| By Andy Moyle | 1 min 45 secs | 0 Comments
John was the apostle of love. As Paul keeps telling us to be full of gratitude, John keeps exhorting us to “Love one another.” Cain was a hater, and that led to murder. You can read that account in Genesis 4. Sin grew in him. John wants love for God and each other to […]
| By Andy Moyle | 1 min 18 secs | 0 Comments
Johns turns his attention to the lifestyle of a believer. In a number of different ways he is telling us to live out who we are. The message of the gospel of grace is that we were sinners who couldn’t live holy lives no matter how hard we tried. Jesus died for us and rose […]
| By Andy Moyle | 3 mins 27 secs | 0 Comments
Yesterday we looked at the fact that God is light and at the contrast between light and dark. In today’s reading, John contrasts worldliness with godliness. 1 John 2:12 begins with an appeal to all members of the church. John addresses the Ephesian Christians as ‘little children’, ‘young men’ and ‘fathers’. The ‘little children’ could […]