The Village Church 1 John 5:1-12 Burdens (Matins)
Lee Sommitz Paraphrase 1 John 5:1-12
Everyone who embraces Jesus as God’s Anointed Messiah is born of God’s eternal seed. It follows that one who loves the Father will love others that are also born of Him. 2 Concrete evidence that we love God’s children is that we love God and make it a habit to follow his directives. 3 Paying close attention to keeping His commandments is essentially loving God. His commandments are neither complicated nor mysterious, rather they are simple and attainable to all of us. 4 That’s because what God has birthed in us has continual victory over the world. That victorious entity is catalyzed by the faith He has given us and there is no threat in this world that our faith cannot conquer. 5 Who are these conquerors you may ask? Only one kind - those who are convinced that God came to earth in the form of a man, His Son Jesus the Anointed One. 6 This Jesus Christ is the One alone who lived in a human body (came by water) and stayed in perfect communion and obedience to the Father so that His blood (the perfect sacrifice) atoned for us all. The Spirit of Truth tells us this. 7 That makes for a triple testimony. 8 All three (the water, the blood, and the Spirit) agree in this testimony. 9 If we take human testimony as valid, how much more seriously should we take God’s testimony? And He has plainly revealed His testimony to us about His Son! 10 Every person who believes that Jesus Christ was God in human form here on earth now has this testimony within them. Everyone, however, who doesn’t believe, considers God to be lying because he won’t believe what God has told us about His Son. 11 The testimony is simply this: God has imparted His eternal life to everyone who believes that Jesus came as God in the form of His Son. 12 Everyone who has received Him thus has this life, but each who has not received Him has no life beyond the grave.
The Village Church’s sermon podcast is more than just a weekly message. It is an invitation into the great and ongoing story of God’s work in the world. Pastors Eric, Mark, Susan, Daniel, and other leaders open the Scriptures not as a collection of abstract ideas but as the living, breathing witness to God’s kingdom breaking into our midst. Each episode is a call—not merely to listen, but to take part, to step forward into the life of faith with renewed vision and purpose.
Week by week, the pastors and leaders explore the deep rhythms of Christian discipleship—prayer, fasting, generosity—not as isolated duties but as part of a larger, richer, and more beautiful whole. They unpack these ancient practices in light of Jesus himself, the one in whom heaven and earth have come together. But they also turn their attention to the realities of everyday life—relationships, finances, the struggles and joys of being human—demonstrating how the gospel is not merely about what we believe but about how we live as God's renewed people in the present age.
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