The Town

Joshua was a great military leader who followed the commands of the Lord. God had promised to be with him as he led Israel into the Promised Land. Under Joshua, the nation of Israel experienced the presence of God from one victory to the next. As a result of Joshua's leadership, and at the end of his life, Israel was a nation after God. They were His people and He was their God. Joshua built up a future history for the nation of Israel. As he neared his death he called the nation together one last time. In this gathering, found in Joshua 24, the gracious leader calls the work of God to remembrance. In this moment, Joshua could have taken credit for his victories. Joshua could have installed a government to establish his legacy. Instead, he gave the glory to God. Joshua reiterates the redemptive history of the past in order to inform the future of Israel. Stone's Throw is a church that has a future history. We desire that this history would be about Jesus. The Gospel informs our future and it is our hope and

Jesus is our example of what missionary should be like. But first, he changes our lives with his own mission. Jesus crosses cultural boundaries, satisfies our deepest needs and invited us to join him on mission. We, the church, belong to Jesus, and we get to participate with him as he works in the world.

Christianity is not meant to be experienced alone. God has called us forth as his chosen people to regularly assemble together in community. This community is called the church! Here, Christians find a place to rest, talk about Jesus, be comforted, and urge each other forward toward godliness. As good as this sounds, it can't happen apart from the consistent presence of one another. From the beautiful picture of the early church in Acts, to Peter's reminder that Christians are strangers in this world, the Bible clearly holds up the design of coming together, with the goal of being of one heart and soul.

Everyone is a leader. Anytime we have influence we are leading. The question is whether or not we leading others for ourselves or in a selfless way. The world is in desperate need of leadership - leaders that are servants. In the New Testament, the word "servant" is used over 900 times to describe those who lead the way that Jesus leads. Each of us have people in our lives that we can and will influence. Will we lead them toward Jesus or toward our own end?

This church exists to be a big presence in a big community to make a big impact for Jesus. Our call is for all people to come as they are, to meet Jesus, so that they might participate fully in God's plan for their mission and life. The work here has only just begun. What happens to a church when they are fueled by the Gospel and empowered by the Holy Spirit as they live in obedience? They are participating in God's plan for their life and are never satisfied with the past but always asking how they might be used of God in the present.

What is your deepest need? What do you need to be true? We live in a culture that wants to believe sincerity is the test of truth. If we sincerely believe something, than it must be considered truth. The Christian faith makes assertions that do not allow for alternate truth. Jesus is the heart of Christianity and he meets our deepest needs - to know God and to have a Savior. The Christian faith makes assertions that only Jesus allows us to know God and that only Jesus is the Savior of the world.

The greatest need we have is to know God. God has given us the means of grace that we need in order to know him and know him deeply. These means of grace are the disciplines of grace - spending time in God's Word. Spending time in worship and community with other Christians. Prayer. Prayer is most neglected because we don't understand it. Yet John tells us that prayer is the key to knowing God and His will for us more deeply.

What is of utmost importance in the church? Jesus. Everything the church is about revolves around Jesus. For John, the testimony of Jesus Christ was his life, his death, and his resurrection. These testimonies concerning Jesus were the most important concerns for the church in his day and they are of the most important concern for us today. In fact, believing the testimony of Jesus' life and death is paramount to knowing eternal life. The most important Christian teachings surrounding the person of Jesus are a matter of eternal life and eternal death. If we know Jesus we have eternal life. And if we have eternal life, everything we do and everything we are is affected by that relationship.

Fear is something we all struggle with. There are things that keep us up at night. Fear can range from anxiety to all terror. How can we live a life without fear? How does the God who created us with the ability to fear also tell us that we have no reason to fear? The Gospel gives us every reason to live in real peace as Jesus ends our fear.

We have all asked the question at some point in our life. "What is love?" How do we know when we have found love or have been loved? Is love a feeling? An experience? Can we define what love is and what it isn't. John says that God is love. God has defined love for us in his Word and by His actions. Jesus is the love of God manifesting itself so that we can know what it means to be loved perfectly. When we let God define love for us we will know what it means to be loved and to love others. True doctrine will define true love. When we know true love we will love others in the way that we have been loved by God

God is love. If God is love, it makes sense that Christians would love God and love others. This is the second time that John wants to address this issue. John is facing a church that is divided by conflict and tension. In this passage, we can see the true heart of a pastor as he exhorts and encourages the fractured congregation to reflect on God's love for them. John teaches that the motivation and inspiration of Christians' love for one another is the healing work God has done in their lives. The work of God in our lives leads to a natural outpouring of love within the church.

"I've received a word from the Lord." I can't tell you how many times I have heard this phrase. It also comes in other forms: "I have prayed about this," "I heard the next best thing to an audible voice," or "[insert mega-church pastor name here] has said." Many times this phrase is used by excited Christians to qualify some life decision, a reason to leave the church, an excuse to sin, or some other direction the person wants to take and has already set their mind on taking. It is hard to argue with someone when they believe that God has clearly spoken to them with a new revelation. There are two dangers that present themselves when responding to someone who believes they have been moved by God in a certain direction. The first danger is to accept what the person has said without testing what they have said against the Scriptures. The second danger is to reject what the person has said without testing what they have said against the Scriptures.

We define ourselves in all kinds of different ways. Christians tend to focus on what makes them distinct - distinct from the world and even distinct from one another. But Jesus says that the church will be defined by their love for one another. That is why John says that true Christians will have a love for one another like no other - it will be so revolutionary that those outside the church will literally define Christians by their love for one another.

The Christian is sure to sin. We are sure to fail because God is not done working with us until the day that we meet Jesus. Even though we fail, we have been promised that Jesus is up to something - he is making all things new - and it is precisely because of this that though the Christian might falter they can always be sure that nothing can separate them from the love of God. The return of Jesus will be the event that brings the brokenness and sinfulness of the world to an end. John promises that on the day that we meet Jesus, we will be with Jesus and made like Jesus. The promised return of Jesus builds up our assurance in three ways: it demonstrates that God loves us with a revolutionary love; that God's will is for us to be part of his forever family; and that God has a bigger vision for us than we could ever have for ourselves.

John describes the spirit of antichrist as being present whenever we deny that Jesus is the Messiah and Son of God. These titles not only tell us about who Jesus is, but they also point to his Lordship over all things. That means we also deny him when we struggle to lay claim on the things which chiefly belong to him. God calls us to abide in him through the work of his Son and the indwelling of his Holy Spirit, and it is only when the church worships him in spirit and in truth that we find our fullest satisfaction.