3 John

Summary of 3 John

It's basically a letter from John warning Diotrephes and to commend Gaius about his treatment of the teachers and how he praises and supports. John seems unhappy with how Diotrephes denied to recognize John's authority as an apostle and how he refused to receive his letters and follow his directions and wishes to speak to him face to face instead of in pen and ink. John also emphasis the truth.

 My favorite part of the scripture is 
3 John 1:11 
Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God.

I would be greatly interested on what peoples' thoughts are on the "anyone who does what is evil has not SEEN God"

Does it mean that they do not believe and if they believe and no longer commit evil they have SEEN God or does do they simply have to believe there is a God and whether they continue to commit evil is irrelevant? 

I believe with my whole heart that they must No LONGER commit evil in order to be truly SEE God. What constitutes as evil? Is evil contained to the ten commandments or does it does it go much deeper and sinister than that? Do you think there is a point that such evil can not be undone or forgiven, even if they chose to believe afterwards?

It seems a running theme in the teachings of John are: Hospitality, support and encouragement for our fellow Christians 

Which are great characteristics to have! 

~Shan

John 2:1-25

Here is my summary of Chapter 2:

Jesus Changes Water Into Wine:

The second chapter of John begins with the miracle of Jesus turning the water into wine at a marriage at Cana. He is attending a wedding with his disciples and the hosts run out of wine. His mother is also there and asks him to help. He seems annoyed that she would ask him for a miracle and says that it is not his time yet. Nevertheless, she still tells the servants to do whatever he asks, so he tells them to fill up the empty wine containers with water. Afterwards, the person in charge of the wedding tastes it and remarks to the groom that they have saved the best wine for last. John tells his audience that the water was there for the Jewish rite of purification.

Jesus Closes The Temple:

 
The story of Jesus overturning the tables of the money changers in the Temple is related. Jesus goes to Jerusalem for the Passover.  He enters the Temple courts and sees people selling livestock and exchanging money. He explodes:  So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, "Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!” (15-16)  He is asked to perform a "miraculous sign" to prove he has authority to do what he is doing.   He says "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days". The people believe he is talking about the official Temple building, but John says that Jesus meant his body, and that this is what his disciples came to believe after his resurrection. John then says that during the Passover Feast Jesus performed miraculous signs, but does not list them, that caused people to believe in him, but that he would "not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men". Maybe  John included this statement to show that Jesus knows the hearts and minds of his people, an attribute that God possesses as well. John mentions the incident with the money changers as occurring at the start of Jesus's ministry, while the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) have it occurring shortly before his crucifixion.  Maybe John included this story at the  beginning to show that Jesus' arrest was for the raising of Lazarus in John 11, not the incident in the Temple

Book: John 1:1-51

I always thought (assumed) the book of John was written by John the Baptist. But it's not. It's written by John the disciple. However, in this book, when "John" is referred to, they are talking about John the Baptist.

The book of John is a favorite among Christians and when researching where we should start when leading a Bible study, I kept coming across the advice to start with John, so here we are!

I have a "life application" Bible so it gives me lots of background facts on each book and the main people. Under "statistics" it says this: purpose of the book of John- to prove conclusively that Jesus is the Son of God and all who believes in Him will have eternal life.

John 1:1-18

-This is explaining that Jesus is part of God. Jesus was there when God began the world and the Word (beause Jesus is a part of God).
-Jesus is fully God BUT fully human during His time here on earth. 1:14- The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. 

-My Bible explains verses 1:12-13 as this, "all who welcomes Jesus Christ as Lord of their lives are reborn spiritually, receiving new life from God. Through faith in Christ, this new birth changes us from the inside out-- rearranging our attitudes, desires, and motives. Being born of God makes you spiritually alive and put's you in God's family. Have you asked Christ to make you a new person?"

-My favorite verse out of this chapter is 1:16- From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.
God's grace is so abundant and thankfully, never-ending. "...One blessing after another..." How very true. I firmly believe that even trials can be blessings in disguise. The truly evil happenings in this world, are no, not blessings, but I also firmly believe that God uses all for the good. He'll turn any tragedy into something positive; we just may not see how it'll all play out in our life-time or in our little corner of the world.

1:19-34

-The Pharisees question John the Baptist "who are you?!" John proclaims freely that he is the one who is to come before the Messiah (Christ) and "...whose sandals I am unworthy to untie." (1:27)

-Jesus then comes to where John was baptizing and John recognizes Him immediately as Christ. When John baptized Jesus the Heavens opened and the Spirit descended upon Jesus like a dove and stayed there.

1:35-51

-The first disciples begin to follow Jesus

-Jesus renames Simon Peter as Peter which means "the rock" ---this is extremely significant and of course not by "coincendence" as after Jesus dies, is risen and ascends into Heaven, the beginning of the Church began with Peter-- he was the foundation, "the rock" in which the Church stood on.

Can you imagine?! Can you imagine being so blessed to have been one of the twelve disciples?! (Besides of course Judas; no one would want to be him, the betrayer.) It honestly makes me teary-eyed thinking of how amazing it'd be to be in Jesus' presence. To be able to give thanks and worship in person... To embrace Him, to bow before Him, to ask Him any questions I've ever wanted to... I just can't imagine... Good thing we'll have all eternity with Him to do those things!

-1:50 "...You will see greater things than that." Surely they did. They saw miracles upon miracles- beautiful, wonderful, breath-taking miracles.

-1:41-42 "The firt thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon Peter and to tell him, 'we have found the Messiah,' (that is Christ). And he brought him to Jesus..."

How often do we put our witnessing up to the forefront of our intentions & interactions with others? How often have we been so excited to share and help lead someone to Jesus? Or do we keep the Light to ourselves? Are we afraid to be seen as weird or a bother? Or do we not see it as our job?

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:8)

"And he said to them, 'Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation." (Mark 16:15)

"And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up." (Galatians 6:9)

"Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples." (Psalm 96:3)

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes..." (Romans 1:16)

The Holy Trinity

This past Sunday was Trinity Sunday so I thought I'd explain it. The Trinity always confused me until someone explained it to me this way: we call a computer a computer but there's different parts to it. There's the modem (Father) and the monitor (Son) and the keyboard and mouse (Holy Spirit) but in its entirity its a computer (God).

Hope that helps (if it was even needed) as its helped me! :)

A printable of a favorite verse of mine...

I most likely will print this out and put it in my scrapbook for my children so if they ever may need this verse, they will have this handy. Feel free to save the image and print out if you like. 

Dismay and Fear are two feelings that are continuously needed to be held at bay.

Hopefully this verse offers some comfort to you all and it has to me. 

<3

Shan

We, the daughters of God...

What does it mean to be God's daughter? What does a Godly woman look like?

I am sure it varies slightly, as we all have our own gifts, strengths, and weaknesses.

Let's see what the Bible says...

Proverbs 31:10-31

¹⁰A wife of noble character who can find?
    She is worth far more than rubies.
¹¹ Her husband has full confidence in her
    and lacks nothing of value.
¹² She brings him good, not harm,
    all the days of her life.
¹³ She selects wool and flax
    and works with eager hands.
¹⁴ She is like the merchant ships,
    bringing her food from afar.
¹⁵ She gets up while it is still night;
    she provides food for her family
    and portions for her female servants.
¹⁶ She considers a field and buys it;
    out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.
¹⁷ She sets about her work vigorously;
    her arms are strong for her tasks.
¹⁸ She sees that her trading is profitable,
    and her lamp does not go out at night.
¹⁹ In her hand she holds the distaff
    and grasps the spindle with her fingers.
²⁰ She opens her arms to the poor
    and extends her hands to the needy.
²¹ When it snows, she has no fear for her household;
    for all of them are clothed in scarlet.
²² She makes coverings for her bed;
    she is clothed in fine linen and purple.
²³ Her husband is respected at the city gate,
    where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.
²⁴ She makes linen garments and sells them,
    and supplies the merchants with sashes.
²⁵ She is clothed with strength and dignity;
    she can laugh at the days to come.
²⁶ She speaks with wisdom,
    and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
²⁷ She watches over the affairs of her household
    and does not eat the bread of idleness.
²⁸ Her children arise and call her blessed;
    her husband also, and he praises her:
²⁹ “Many women do noble things,
    but you surpass them all.”
³⁰ Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
    but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
³¹ Honor her for all that her hands have done,
    and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

Proverbs 11:16

A kindhearted woman gains honor,
    but ruthless men gain only wealth.

Titus 2:3-5

³ Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. ⁴ Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, ⁵ to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.

Ephesians 4:17-5:21

¹⁷ So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. ¹⁸ They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. ¹⁹ Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.
²⁰ That, however, is not the way of life you learned ²¹ when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. ²² You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; ²³ to be made new in the attitude of your minds; ²⁴ and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
²⁵ Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. ²⁶ “In your anger do not sin”^[a]: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, ²⁷ and do not give the devil a foothold. ²⁸ Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.
²⁹ Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. ³⁰ And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. ³¹ Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. ³² Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. 5 ¹ Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children ² and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
³ But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. ⁴ Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. ⁵ For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. ⁶ Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. ⁷ Therefore do not be partners with them.
⁸ For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light ⁹ (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) ¹⁰ and find out what pleases the Lord. ¹¹ Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. ¹² It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. ¹³ But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. ¹⁴ This is why it is said:

“Wake up, sleeper,
    rise from the dead,
    and Christ will shine on you.”

¹⁵ Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, ¹⁶ making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. ¹⁷ Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. ¹⁸ Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, ¹⁹ speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, ²⁰ always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

²¹ Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

<3   

Quick Intro and how God is working in my life....

I may or may not know all of you or most of you but here is a quick intro into me, Shannon or Shan or most of the time I'm called Mommy or Lady Jane (that's my husbands' nickname for me and have no idea why but it's cute and I'm rambling!). Like I said, most of the time I'm called Mommy. Being a mother has always been something that I longed for and I was blessed with four kids. Usually you say something like "I was blessed with four healthy, happy kids...well, I do have four very happy and very loving children. I do not have four healthy kids as much as I would love to say I do and health, being such a vital and important thing its a hard pill to swallow at times. My oldest child,"A" has Celiacs and she also has markers for an autoimmune disease. I am leaning towards Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis or Lupus. But Thankfully (Thank you GOD) she is able to function and behave like your typical tween. :) My second oldest (M) is healthy (Praise the Lord) and is 15 mos younger than his sister. My third child, my little guy, he unfortunately is not healthy but I'll get to that in just a bit, and rounding out the crew is my youngest and my last baby. She is healthy. In-utero it was discovered she had excess fluid in her kidneys. She will be getting what I hope is her last review of her kidneys and we will be released from the Nephrology Doctors. My 3rd child, W has a rare form of Childhood Epilepsy called ESES or Electrical Status Epilepticus of Sleep or also known as CSWS or LKS depending on which dr. you are talking to. He was a developmentally normal little boy when November 5th, 2012 occurred. That is when he had his first two seizures and we have been on this roller coaster ever since. Recently we were told medicine will no longer work, his seizures just aren't responding to medicine at this time. We are awaiting a new MRI and we are seeing the top specialist in the country in August (praying for this) to see where we may go from here. While we wait, he continues to decline developmentally. His gross/fine motor skills, language, and general cognitive abilities are beginning to evaporate right before my eyes. Now at this point, most people (myself included) would ask WHY? Why would GOD let this happen to a little boy. We know that GOD loves our children. He entrust us with the care of his most precious gifts.

• Psalm 139:13-16  For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you,when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
  
  source from:http://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com

Instead of asking, "Why W? or Why our family?" how about Why not? God has proven time and time that he hears us and he will do what is best for us. Another way I try to look at our situation is: How honored I am to be W's mom and how honored I am for God to entrust such an amazing person to me, ME! Many people have said, "If I were you I would be falling apart", which I do mainly in the shower or while driving solo so I can get it all out or late at night but I also draw on God's strength and the fact that I know He will be there every step of the way.  I use NIV version for my bible and Isaiah 40:29: He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. 

So what are some of your favorite verses about how God is always there for you?

Shan

Music that I love

Believe

Above All Else

How Great Thou Art

See You Again

God Gave Me You

Yours Forever

Almost anything by Chris Rice like... (and I'd suggest just listening and not watching the weird videos people put together to somehow go with the song?... haha!)

Deep Enough to Dream

Clumsy

Smellin' Coffee


And I'm sure there are so many more that I'm forgetting and don't even know of. :)

A few resources

Hello hello!

I thought it'd be helpful for some of you to know some resources I've found. A lot of you probably know a lot more & better resources, so feel free to jump in here please! (Once of course I have your email address and can add you as a contributing author... You can comment in the meantime, so please feel free!)

I love, love, love: biblegateway.com It's also great for those that do not have a Bible, or a version of the Bible they can understand, as it let's you choose which version you would like. I have a NIV Bible (New International Version) and can understand it easily, so I really like that version, but any version is better than none! :)

I have the Bible Gateway as an app on my phone, as well as: the Holy Bible app, Bible for Kids, Bible Songs (for kids), and Child's Bible (all apps)

I also love, love, love: crosspoint.tv and especially the pastor Pete Wilson - God definitely gave him a gift of speaking/preaching! Crosspoint is a church in Nashville and they tape & stream live their sermons on Sundays each week. If you missed a live stream- no biggie, just go under "media" and it's all there- or YouTube it! It's great if you haven't found a church you love yet, or just can't seem to get to church because you have multiple littles! :)

I also just Google a lot and try to look for legit resources.

I also have a few devotionals I love... Jesus Calling by Sarah Young, Heart of my Heart by Kristin Armstrong and Work in Progress by Kristin Armstrong.

Please add to this list if any of you would like to! Thanks!

**A few more I remembered: thrivemoms.com , proverbs31.org , lysaterkeurst.com , shereadstruth.com , holyyoga.net , amazima.org

Some Facts About the Bible

• The Bible was written over a time frame of 1600 years (1500 BC to AD 100) by forty different men.
• ** The Bible does not go in chronological order! Always good to know this, as thinking it does, could create quite the confusion!
• The Old Testament was written before Jesus was born, and the New Testament was written after Jesus was born and is mainly about Him and His life.
• There are 66 books. Within each book there are chapters and then verses. Ex: Genesis (book) 1:2 (the 1 is stating the chapter and the 2 is stating the second verse within the chapter).
• Each of the books, except 5, are divided into chapters and verses. The 5 which aren’t divided by chapters are Obadiah, Philemon, 2 John, 3 John, and Jude. These are short books which only have verse divisions. Chapters were introduced to the Bible in 1238 by Cardinal Hugo de S. Caro. Verse divisions were not added until 1551 by Robertus Stephanus
• The longest chapter if the Bible is Psalm 119 with 176 verses. The shortest chapter is Psalm 117 with only 2 verses. Incidentally, the middle chapter of the Bible is also Psalm 117.
  The longest book of the Bible is Psalms with 150 chapters. It contains 43,743 words. The shortest book is 3 John with only 1 chapter and 299 words. The longest verse in the Bible is Esther 8:9 with 90 words. The shortest verse is John 11:35 with only 2 words, “Jesus wept.”
• It is one of the most read books in the world.
• It is historically accurate.
• The men who wrote it were inspired to write each and every word by the Holy Spirit, therefore the Bible is God's word, literally.
• There are more than 3,200 verses with fulfilled prophecy either within the Bible itself or since the Bible was written. But there are still more than 3,100 verses with unfulfilled prophecies. While there were at least 40 different people who wrote parts of the Bible, some were more prolific than others. The Apostle Paul wrote at least 13 books of the Bible. He may have also been the author of the book of Hebrews. Moses wrote the first 5 books.
• The Bible never contradicts itself. It seems that way, the information has been taken out of context.
  
  (The above information came from: http://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/10-amazing-bible-facts/#ixzz34G0je1jp )

** Please remember that we each have Bibles that are different versions, and therefore have different words. Please remember that the Bible has been translated numerous times and some translations were altered or lost in some versions. Also, some people have used the Bible and it's information OUT OF CONTEXT so that they can use it against the Bible itself and God and Jesus.
** "The Bible was written for us, but not to us," as quoted from Pete Wilson (crosspoint.tv pastor - GREAT resource, site, church, etc.). We have to remember the timeframe in which it was written and what was normal for them at the time; what their lives were like... whether it was farming, nomad living, etc; different cultures and customs that are far different than ours nowadays.


Most importantly, what I want you all to take away from this, and some of you already know this better than I, is that the Bible proves to us that Jesus and God love and completely know each and every one of us so thoroughly and greatly that us humans cannot even fathom. God wants what is best for us, even if it may not seem like it's the best thing in our opinion. He knows what He is doing and He does it out of complete, pure, unconditional love.

If I had to choose one word to describe God & Jesus, it would be: love.

What word would each of you choose?

Welcome! A post from Michelle

Hi all! I thought that maybe this could possibly be a simpler format for our Bible study and in this way we could all participate. We'll continue using the #SistersInChrist group page on Facebook as a way to communicate however. Sound okay? Hope so! :)

I am so happy to welcome you all! I truly hope this is successful and that we all make time for it. I think it's important to have good girlfriends in your life, and what better than to have Godly-girlfriends at that?! Fellowship is so important. Even in the Bible it says that we should never be alone...

The Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone..." (Genesis 2:18a)

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. (1 John 4:11-13)

Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. (1 Thessalonians 5:11)

For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them. (Matthew 18:20)