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“Fan or Follower”
Part 1 – Living in the Light
1 John 1:1 – 2:6
Sunday February 26, 2012
KGF Church
Mike Penninga
www.kgfchurch.com
Welcome & YouVersion:
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Invite you to open your Bibles to 1 John, page _______
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Message outline from your bulletins
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We’re beginning a new feature this morning for those of you who bring a smart phone or
an IPAD to service.
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YouVersion of the Bible.
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(show on screen)
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Join the group: kgfchurch
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Open wireless in here.
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Details on our website, feel free to go there and get set up, so you can engage with us.
New Series – 1 John:
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We’re starting a new series this morning walking through the book of 1 John.
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We’re in the season of Lent, which is the 40 days of preparation leading up to Easter.
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It began this past Wednesday, Ash Wednesday, and is marked by a turning away and a
turning towards.
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Often people give something up for Lent to make room for Christ to fill that place.
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Encourage you to consider that as we journey towards Easter weekend, April 6th to 8th.
Following Jesus:
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First John is an incredible book that talks about what it means to follow Jesus.
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To remind you of our mission and vision at KGF.
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Mission – To know Jesus & make Him known.
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Vision – To create places of belonging where people can discover Jesus and be equipped
to follow Him.
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That’s what it means to be a disciple, to follow Him.
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Our heart is to help nurture Christ-followers, not just Christ-fans.
Difference: Fan or Follower?
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But what’s the difference between a fan and a follower?
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Love to get your feedback as we begin this series.
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How would you differentiate between someone who is a “Fan” and someone who is a
“Follower”?
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I’ve asked Pastor Jinger is going to write some of your responses on the white board
Feedback – White Board:
YouVersion Response:
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For those of you who are tracking with us on YouVersion, there’s a place where you can
respond anonymously to a poll that says “I’m a Fan”, or “I’m a Follower”, or “I’m not
Sure”, encourage you to do that.
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You can also add your own thoughts of what you think defines a follower versus a fan.
My Thoughts: Fan or Follower
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Here are some of the things that came to my mind as I was thinking about Fan or
Follower.
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Being a Fan doesn’t cost you much.
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You can hop on and off the band-wagon depending on the popularity of your subject.
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I would consider myself a Fan of the Canucks, but not a Follower.
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A follower watches the games, knows the players, reads the editorials, wears the jerseys,
buys the tickets, talks about the trade possibilities.
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A fan just cheers during the Stanley cup final!
Fans:
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We often think of “fan” in terms of sports teams, but it applies to other areas of life as
well.
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We can be “fans” of various TV shows, “fans” of certain styles of music and bands.
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For those of you on Facebook, think how easy it is to be a “fan” of something, even if
you don’t care that deeply about it.
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Fan vs. Follower:
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It’s one thing to be a Fan.
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It’s something else to be a follower.
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And Jesus is looking for followers, not just fans.
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Fans come and go.
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Followers walk through the thick and thin.
Dictionary Definition:
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The dictionary defines a fan as an “enthusiastic admirer”
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Fans want to be close enough to Jesus to get all the benefits, but not so close that it
requires sacrifice.
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Fans may be fine with repeating a prayer, attending church on Sundays, and slapping a
Jesus fish on the bumpers of their cars.
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But Jesus is not looking for fans.
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He is raising up followers.
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So for the next five weeks, as we journey towards Easter, we are going to be wrestling
with the words of 1 John, and discovering whether we are in the category of “Fan” or
“Follower”.
Personal Devotions:
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To help us in this process, we are making this handout available.
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We want to anchor ourselves in this letter for these five weeks, reading these chapters
again and again.
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Explain reflection booklet.
Life Groups:
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Our Life Groups will also be walking through 1 John, so our goal is to immerse ourselves
in these truths, to open ourselves to what God wants to reveal to us.
About John:
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The guy who wrote this letter was not just a fan of Jesus, he was his follower.
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We know John was one of the 12 disciples, in fact, he was in the inner core, Peter, James
& John.
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And it’s believed that Jesus was referring to John as the disciple he loved.
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John also wrote the Gospel John, two other letters to churches, and the book of
Revelation.
Not a Casual Observer:
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So the words of this letter are not just words of a fan, but of a follower, of someone very
near and dear to Jesus.
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In fact, John begins by reminding us that he is not a casual observer or one who studied
Jesus.
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He was there.
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He walked with him.
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He saw with his own eyes and heard with his own ears.
Let’s look together, 1 John 1:1-4
Eye-Witness:
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I don’t know about you, but there is a difference to me in the power I attribute to the
words of an eye-witness verses someone who was a distant observer.
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I think about two weeks ago, Michelle and I were in Ecuador.
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We saw with our own eyes, touched with our own hands, smelled with our own noses,
heard with our own ears, tasted with our own mouth.
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We were there.
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And we came back and shared it with you as first hand participants.
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We were there on your behalf, and brought back the message that many of you responded
to last week.
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So awesome, 76 kids sponsored through Compassion Canada.
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We have several more profiles available at Info Desk, would so encourage you to stop by
after the service to begin this life changing relationship.
Describing Jesus:
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Back to the text, look at the words John uses to describe Jesus.
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Verse 1 – “The one who existed from the beginning.”
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Verse 1 - “The Word of Life”
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Verse 2 – “The one who is life itself”
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Verse 2 – “The one who is eternal life”
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Verse 2 – “The one who was with the Father”
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Verse 3 – “The Son, Jesus Christ”, Jesus the Messiah
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Jesus is not just a good teacher.
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He is not just a good man.
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He is not just a good idea.
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He is not just a good concept.
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He is not just a good religious figure.
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He is life itself.
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He is eternal life.
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He was and is and will always be God.
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When you see Jesus, you see God.
Eternal Life:
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It’s no good looking for eternal life apart from Jesus. . .it’s not there to be found.
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John 17:3 “And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and
Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.”
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You hear a lot of talk about eternal life in churches.
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Eternal life is not a then and there promise, it’s a here and now reality, and it’s entirely
wrapped up in the person of Jesus Christ.
Message of Jesus – Light:
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What message does Jesus bring us?
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Look at verse 5.
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John 1:5 “This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light,
and there is no darkness in him at all.”
Light:
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Light is a great thing.
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People are attracted to the light
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Think of a burning campfire, or a candle, or the stars at nighttime, or a moon or sunrise.
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There’s a couple of things that prove true with light:
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1. Light reveals
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Light exposes whatever exists, whether it is good or bad.
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In the dark, good and evil look alike; in the light, they can be clearly distinguished.
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Can’t hide in the light
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Think about it, when do people commit crimes, usually under the cover of darkness.
2. Light overpowers darkness
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Just as darkness cannot exist in the presence of light, so sin cannot exist in the presence of a
holy God.
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John says it so clearly in verse 6.
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1 John 1:6 “So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in
spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth.”
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He doesn’t mix words. . . you can’t live in both worlds.
Light & Darkness:
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The reality is we do live with this crazy combination of light & darkness.
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We want light, but are attracted to darkness.
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We want to do good, but are drawn to sin.
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We want to be a follower, but being a fan is so much easier.
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What do we do with that?
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That’s the good news of Jesus.
Read 1 John 1:7-10
Sin Isn’t Real?
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Here, John counters one of the major false teachings of the time.
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And that was that sin wasn’t real.
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In fact, they believed that because sin wasn’t real, it didn’t matter what you did with your
body, so why not gratify every physical lust because the body was going to be destroyed
anyway.
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Pretty appealing philosophy.
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It’s one that people today love to subscribe to.
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Sin Today:
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A generation ago, you’d be hard pressed to find people who didn’t believe in sin.
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But in today’s day and age where no decision is a wrong decision, where no morality is a
right morality, the concept of sin is all but abandoned.
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If we went on the street and said “Do you think you’re a sinner?”, a lot of people would be
offended at that question.
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They might say, “I make some mistakes sometime, but I don’t believe that makes me a
sinner. I’m generally a good person.”
Must Acknowledge Our Sin:
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But the Bible clearly says that the Christian life begins only when we acknowledge that we
indeed are sinners.
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We will never come to a savior until we admit the need to be saved.
Sin – Thesaurus:
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A quick look in the Thesaurus has these words along side “sinner”
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Criminal, offender, outlaw, transgressor, trespasser, culprit.
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Those are strong words.
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I look at that and think, “I’m not a criminal, an offender, an outlaw, a transgressor.”
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I only have little sins in my life.
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I mean compared to so and so, I’m practically a saint!
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Maybe you are thinking like that.
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John knew you would.
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And reminds us in verse 10, “If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and
showing that his word has no place in our hearts.”
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Earlier in Ecclesiastes, the picture is painted pretty wide:
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Ecclesiastes 7:20 “Not a single person on earth is always good and never sins.”
Eugene Peterson:
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I love this quote from Eugene Peterson, author of the Message Paraphrase, I’m reading
his memoires on 40 years of pasturing.
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“Every congregation is a congregation of sinners. And if that weren't bad enough, each
has a sinner for a pastor.” Eugene Peterson
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Greek Word - Hamartia
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Romans 3:23 “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.”
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The word “sin” in the Greek is “Ha-mar-tia” – which literally means “missing the mark”
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It’s an archery term, missing the bulls-eye, missing the goal.
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Sin is falling short of God’s glory, missing the mark of perfection.
Sinners:
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And that’s where we all find ourselves.
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But how awesome is 1 John 1:9, “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to
forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.”
What Is Confessing:
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Confessing means agreeing that we’ve gone astray, and that God’s path is indeed right.
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Confession removes a barrier that we put up between us and God.
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Fans don’t often see the need for confession.
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Followers recognize it as an ongoing reality.
Picture of Forgiveness:
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I love the picture John paints there.
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Forgiveness and cleansing.
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Amazing picture – to be cleansed – to be washed – to be made new.
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That’s what’s opened to us.
Photo – Washed Clean:
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A friend of mine sent me this picture this week.
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(show picture – Fears Erased Daily)
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Love it.
“Do-overs”
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I was thinking of some of the things we use to “cover-over” our mistakes in life.
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In golf we have “mulligans”, Do-overs, taking another stroke without counting the previous
one.
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We had good old “liquid paper”
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We have the “eraser”
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On the computer, we have the “undo” button, and when things get too messed up, the
“system restore” button.
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But where is the system restore button in life?
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Reality is it isn’t a button but a person.
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And His name is Jesus.
Read 1 John 2:1-2
License to Sin:
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Some of us look at this verse and see it as a license to sin.
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All I have to do is confess my sin, then he forgives and cleanses. . . that’s awesome!
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I call that Cheap Grace
Newlywed Couple:
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Maybe this story will help.
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A newlywed couple was enjoying the first day of their honeymoon at a beautiful romantic
getaway.
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The proud husband turns to his wife and says: honey, I am so glad you have married me, so
glad you have chosen me, so glad you have accepted me for all my faults and failures, so
glad that we get to spend the rest of our lives together.
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But now that we are married, I need to get a couple of other things straight.
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Now that we’re married, how many other women can I date, kiss, sleep with?
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I mean think of it, you are right there to forgive me.
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Think about how awesome it’ll be for me to give you so many opportunities to show your
grace?
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What’s the wife’s response?
Cheap Grace:
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Cheap grace is not grace at all.
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We do not sin more so that God’s grace abounds.
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The Christian life is not about walking as close to the line as possible, but about following
as close to Christ as possible.
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The Christian life is not about simply acknowledging the light that is God, but living in the
light.
“My Friend”
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Over the years, I have had many people come and talk about a “friend” they have.
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They will paint this picture of their friend who at one point had made a decision for
Christ.
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But their life was not one of following.
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Were they in fact saved?
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I will always share two things.
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First, only God knows the state of the heart, whether someone is a fan or a follower.
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Second, I will often lead them to these verses in 1 John 2:3-6.
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1 John 2:3-6 “And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments. 4 If
someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a
liar and is not living in the truth. 5 But those who obey God’s word truly show how
completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. 6 Those who say
they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.”
Belong to Christ:
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How can you be sure that you belong to Christ?
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How can you answer this question, “Fan or Follower”
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1 John 2:3-6 gives the clearest answer in Scripture.
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We are to follow Jesus.
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Now that doesn’t mean choosing 12 disciples, performing great miracles, and being
crucified.
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We cannot merely copy Jesus’ life.
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We follow his teachings.
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We walk in his ways.
Fan or Follower:
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Here’s the difference between a fan and a follower.
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Does our life’s message reflect our lip’s message?
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Do people see Christ in us?
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Do we acknowledge Christ with our lips and then deny him with our lives?
Conclusion:
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Being a Christian is not about your church attendance or your giving record or the size of
your Bible.
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Those are concerns for a “fan”
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For a follower, it’s about walking in the light.
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It’s about following the footsteps of Jesus.
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It’s about smelling like your savior.
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It’s about confession, forgiveness, and cleansing.
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It’s about single-hearted devotion.
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It’s about a choice. . . a choice of who you’re going to follow.
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We must make a choice, the crowd or the cross.
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Whatever you do, make your choice clear.
Video - Crowd or Cross
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“Fan or Follower”
Part 1 – Living in the Light
1 John 1:1 – 2:6
Sunday February 26, 2012
KGF Church
Mike Penninga
YouVersion – Download App & Interact
www.youversion.com/groups/kgfchurch
Difference Between Fan and Follower
Definition of “Fan” – E__________ A__________
1 John 1:1-4 Eyewitness Account
Jesus Not Just A Good Man:
• Jesus Is Life: John 17:3 “And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only
true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.”
1 John 1:5-6 – God is Light
1. Light __________
2. Light ________ darkness
1 John 1:7-10 - Confession
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1 John 1:10 “If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his
word has no place in our hearts.”
Ecclesiastes 7:20 “Not a single person on earth is always good and never sins.”
Romans 3:23 “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.”
Greek Word - Hamartia
• Sin literally means “Missing ______________”
“Do-overs” in Life
1 John 2:1-2 License to Sin:
• Cheap Grace?
1 John 2:3-6 “I Have a Friend. . .”
Conclusion:
• Fan or Follower, Crowd or Cross?
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