Archive for category: GAMEtime Sharing

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Hebrews 2:1-10.  Let’s go!

Hebrews 2:1-4 (NIV) 
1  We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. 
2  For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, 
3  how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. 
4  God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

On verses 1-4:   Here the writer of Hebrews starts to compare two messages.  The first message is the message of the old covenant, a message that was “spoken by angels” (v2; see also Galatians 3:19) to Moses.  The message of the old covenant is all about God’s law.  The essence of the old covenant message is: “Obey God’s law and be blessed.  Disobey God’s law and die.”   The old covenant message was binding on the Israelites.  Those who disobeyed the law of Moses were punished (v2).

Hi GAMErs!

Today we are looking at 3 John, a very short letter most likely written by the apostle John to his friend Gaius.  Today’s passage is 3 John 1:1-13.  Let’s go!

3 John 1:1 (NIV) 
1  The elder, To my dear friend Gaius, whom I love in the truth.

On verse 1:  In this short letter John refers to Gaius as his “dear friend” four times.   Notice how affectionate John is in his words to Gaius.  Through this letter we learn several lessons on what it means to be a great friend who points others to Jesus.  We find the first one here:  if you want to be a great friend, speak affectionate words that let the other person know how much they mean to you.

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is 1 John 5:13-21.  Let’s go! 
 
1 John 5:13-15 (NIV) 
13  I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. 
14  This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 
15  And if we know that he hears us–whatever we ask–we know that we have what we asked of him.

On verses 13-15:  John writes so that his readers would have confidence in their salvation (v13) and confidence that God hears their prayers (v14-15).  As those who believe in the name of the Son of God, we can have the same confidence as well. 

On verses 16-17:  In addition to being confident that we have eternal life and being confident that God hears our prayers, we can be confident that when we pray for others who confess their sins to us, God uses our prayers to restore and strengthen them.  The sole exception is when a person commits the “sin that leads to death” (v16).

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is 1 John 4:13-21.  Let’s go!

1 John 4:13-14 (NIV) 
13  We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 
14  And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

On verses 13-14:  In other words, the faith that John and his fellow apostles preach is not merely about believing in abstract ideas.  Rather their faith comes with a real experience of God’s Holy Spirit (v13), and their testimony is based on having actually seen this Jesus who was sent from the Father to be the Saviour of the world (v14).  In other words, Christian faith is not simply a bunch of philosophical principles and ideas about metaphysics.  Rather, the Christian faith is grounded in historical fact and is accompanied by a real, life-changing experience of the Holy Spirit. 

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is 1 John 4:1-6.  Let’s go!

1 John 4:1-3 (NIV) 
1  Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 
2  This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 
3  but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

On verses 1-3:  Why is John telling his readers to “test the spirits to see whether they are from God” (v1)?  It’s because in John’s day false prophets were preaching messages that contradicted the gospel message, the message that Jesus Christ the Son of God came into this world, died for our sins, and rose again.  For example, historians report that a man called Cerinthus taught that Jesus was not divine and that he was not supernaturally born of a virgin but that he was the naturally born son of Joseph and Mary.