Pastor John will be preaching this morning from 1st John chapter 4 verses 13 to 16.

By this we know that we abide in him and he and us because he has given us of his own spirit.

And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his son as the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the son of God, God

abides in Him and He in God. So we know and believe the love God has for us.

God is love, and he who abides in love

abides in God, and God abides in him. The text begins in verse 13 with the words, by this we know that we abide in him, that is in God, and he in us.

So there's the burden of the letter again.

The burden of this letter is to teach us

how to be sure that God abides in us.

The question you should write over this service today in your mind is, am I sure that God abides in me?

Because this book is written passionately to give you that assurance. This book does not want anybody to go out of this service saying, I don't know. I don't know if God is in me or not. I can tell. This book is written to give assurance so that when somebody asks you, you really think

Almighty God abides in you, you can say, yes.

Ten times in this letter we read things like,

by this we may be sure that we know him,

by this we may be sure that we are in him. By this it has been seen who are the

children of God. By this we shall know that we are of the truth and so on. Ten times he makes

plain that the burden of his heart is I want you to know that you are born of God, to know that you are of the truth, to know that God abides in you and you in God.

So the next question is what does it mean for God to abide in you?

Because the verse says, by this

you shall know that God abides in you.

Two possibilities.

Some people are saying today, it means intimacy with God a second stage Christianity it means maturity it means

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