And amen. Good morning and welcome. You can be seated. I want to welcome those of you that are joining

us online as well. Hi, Melissa. So we're continuing our trek through 1 John verse by verse. And today's text

will be chapter 2 verses 15 through 17.

And just as soon as I said you can be seated, I'm going to ask you to stand.

You don't have to, but just for the reading of God's word.

The Apostle John is writing by the Holy Spirit and says, verse 15,

do not love the world or anything in the world.

If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

For everything in the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world, the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes, and the boasting of what he has and does comes not from the

father, but from the world. The world, verse 17, and its desires,

pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. Let's pray if you would,

please join with me. Father, thank you as Copono prayed so much for your word. Lord, what would we do if we didn't have your word?

Lord, this portion that we have before us today here in your word, we desperately need for the Holy Spirit to open it up to us and

minister it to us, Lord, especially dealing with this particular topic, this matter.

Lord, we are here because we want to hear the still small voice of the Holy Spirit as you speak

into our lives in and through your word. And Lord, when you do so, we would

ask that you would speak clearly, so clear that a fool could not err thereof. And speak personally

because you know our hearts. You know what's in our hearts, and you can speak to the matters

of our hearts. So Lord, would you speak? Your servants are listening, we ask. In Jesus' name,

amen and amen. Now you can be seated. What I want to talk with you about today is why

loving the world or the things in the world will not end well for anyone who does. Yay. How perky is that, huh? It's true. Now, before we go any further,

it's a paramount importance that we delineate between the world in this context in contrast to the context in which Jesus says in that

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