1 John 3&4: Relationship Over Rules

You can feel it when faith turns into performance: more rules, more anxiety, more guilt, and somehow less love. We open 1 John 3 with John’s plainspoken claim that still hits like a gut check: if we’re really God’s children, it shows up in what we practice, especially when nobody is watching. We talk about hope in Christ’s return, what “purify yourself” actually looks like, and why John draws a hard line between an occasional stumble and a life that keeps choosing sin without conviction.

From there, we get practical. Bones connects John’s simplicity to the way you train under pressure: when stress hits, you fall back on the basics you’ve practiced the most. For believers facing spiritual warfare, temptation, or plain old hard seasons, the “gross motor skills” of Christianity matter: love God, love your neighbor, love your brothers and sisters. We also dig into one of the most freeing passages in the letter: God is greater than our heart. That changes how we deal with sin, consequences, and the kind of sin-conscious mindset that keeps people trapped in shame.

We then move into 1 John 4 and John’s call to discernment: test the spirits. We talk about false teaching, early gnostic ideas that denied Jesus came in the flesh, and why knowing the biblical Jesus protects you from a “different Jesus.” John’s answer is not fear, it’s love: God is love, perfect love drives out fear, and confidence replaces dread. We close with a challenge to separate Scripture from tradition and read the Bible for yourself.

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Transcript

Welcome Back And Quick Recap

SPEAKER_00 0:14

Hey, everybody, welcome to another episode of the WoeFo Yo podcast with C Dub and Bones. In our last full episode, we covered 1 John chapters 1 and 2. We really got into contrasting how Paul would lay down all these rules at times and he would talk about deep revelations. And John talks about deep revelations, just not in 1st, 2nd, and 3 John really. But he does talk about it in the book of Revelation. And we kind of contrasted those. And we also got into the fact that John here is just keeping it simple. It's about relationship, relationship, relationship. And then Bones, you pointed out that this is a guy talking from experience, like a great grandfather, I think you said, that this is a guy that's been there, done that. He's not going to get all fancy with it. He's just laying it out there. Here it is. Take it or leave it. Yep. And I think you mentioned that he's done because he's been there done that, he doesn't have to be convincing. Right. He's just blunt. So we're going to pick this up in first John chapter 3. See how great a love the Father has given us, that we should be called the children of God. And in fact, we are. For this reason the world does not know us because it did not know him. Beloved, now we are the children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when he appears we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is, and everyone who has this hope set on him purifies himself just as he is pure. Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who remains in him sins continually. No one who sins continually has seen him or knows him. Little children, make sure no one deceives you. The one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous. The one who practices sin is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. No one who has been born of God practices sin because his seed remains in him, and he cannot sin continually, because he has been born of God. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious. Any one who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother and sister. Verse 11. For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning that we are to love one another, not as Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And for what reason did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil, but his brothers were righteous. Don't be surprised, brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers and sisters. The one who does not love remains in death. Everyone who hates his brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him. We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. But whoever has worldly goods and see his sees his brother or sister in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God remain in him? Little children, let's not love with word or tongue, but indeed and truth. We will know that by this we are of the truth, and will set our heart at ease before him, that if our heart condemns us, that God is greater than our heart, and he knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God, and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight. This is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his son Jesus Christ, and love one another just as he commanded us. The one who keeps his commandments remains in him, and he in him. We know by this that he remains in us by the Spirit whom he has given us.

SPEAKER_04 4:50

That sounds pretty clean cut and dry.

SPEAKER_01 5:01

No, he's really not. He's not complicating it with um you know you can tell people by this or that and uh discernment and and all these things, and and not to not to sound like I'm bashing Paul because that's not it either.

SPEAKER_02 5:20

Paul just has a a different a different perception. Um but John's just like I said, John's a little older here, and John's just saying, Hey, you'll know a Christian because he'll live like Christ.

SPEAKER_04 5:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:36

That's it. I mean, there's no there's no reason to oversimplify it or over-define it. Um it's just that simple. And if you're if you say you're saved and you're still acting like the world, then maybe you're probably not saved. Um we could use a little bit of that preaching right now. Um I think that's part of the reason we have uh open rebellion in the pulpits right now. Uh we have open rebellion in the pews. Uh we have open rebellion inside the body. Um and it's not just um it's not just those acts of sin that we stumble into. Um it's the continuing in sin that j for that John talks about here. Uh that he says you you can't you can't be a child of God if you're continuing in sin, because if you're a child of God, you won't continue in sin.

SPEAKER_00 6:38

So you know what one of the things we're doing this week on my job, if you're hearing this, it was last week, is uh have uh cadet range, supervising cadets. It's an interesting class. Uh but uh in my department, what you do with cadets and really what you're doing with uh your annual training that you have for staff is with the firearm systems, the way the way we teach it, and it could use some upgrading, especially on our rifles, but the basics are the same. But I see John doing the same thing that we talk about in firearms class. What we're doing is we're building you a platform off of which to build. Right. We're building you a firm foundation here. We're we're building something that if you become proficient in it and you practice it, now we can start teaching you other things. But you got to get this system, you got to get this platform down to get into the deeper things. And I see John kind of doing that here, especially if you look at verses two and three. Uh, beloved, now we are the children of God. It has not appeared as yet what we will be, and we know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him just as he is. So he's talking about the second coming here, and us being in being transformed into his image is what he's alluding to. Paul says that outright. And everyone who has this hope set on him purifies himself just as he is pure. So the whole thing is set upon this expectation of the return of Jesus Christ. So you have this relationship with him now, yet you're also eagerly awaiting his return because you're eagerly awaiting his return. Now it's time to purify yourself that you might be found in a right state. Uh, you don't want to have to answer for too much when he comes back. Is so when he gets it now, now he's talking about well, how do you purify himself? How do you purify yourself? Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness. And like I said before, he's not really defining the law, right? He's defining it in simplicity as love God and love your fellow believer. He's talking about walking in love. That that's the law right there. Now, does do all those things that Paul talked about apply? Yes, they do. But he's just keeping it simple. He said in chapters one and two, you already know the law.

SPEAKER_02 9:36

One thing I'm reminded of in firearms training is uh the use of uh gross motor skills. Um using your using your entire hand to uh operate the slide of a of a pistol. Uh not using your fingers to do stuff, but using your hand and uh using your gross motor skills. And one of the reasons that we do that is because in a stressful situation you lose your fine motor skills.

SPEAKER_00 10:09

Yeah, that adrenaline hits.

SPEAKER_02 10:11

You get that adrenaline dump and your fingers don't work. Um but your gross motor skills, uh, you can still you can still use that, you can still fight through that and everything. Um so what I'm seeing here, just kind of seeing, John coming from a different perspective of persecution. Uh when you look, John is the the only apostle that died of what we would call natural causes. Um but he he lived a long life, and so he's been through uh some different types of persecution, uh, not to make light of what any of the other apostles went through, uh, but he's he's lived a long life. And I think he's breaking it down Barney style, so to speak, so that when we are enduring our persecutions, when we are in the midst of our spiritual warfare and we're going through our things, um, we can keep it simple. Uh we can use uh and exercise the gross motor skills of Christianity and know that, hey, okay, um, I know we're in some deep stuff right now. I just if I just love God and love my neighbor and love myself, I I'm I'm I'll keep it, I'll stay right there for a while. Um that's a little bit easier to remember and focus on um in a relationship than it is to try to remember all these commands and and principles and and all these other things, which I'm not saying to throw all those out, but in the midst of uh trials and tribulations, um your brain operates different. So that's just kind of what I'm seeing here is John just keeping it simple, stupid. You know, so that when when the day is long and the times are hard, um you're not having to think a whole lot about that relationship and and and uh is everything right between me and the Lord? And and and are you know, is everything going okay? And we can kind of do that spiritual gut check and say, okay, okay, I I love the Lord, I'm loving my neighbor, I'm loving myself. Okay, okay, we're good. Let's let's charge Mike and keep cruising. Because sometimes that's all you got.

SPEAKER_00 12:24

One of the things that always gets me in today's society, especially if you were to get on what everybody's watching and things that are trending and all this. Um there there was a term that came out here I first ho heard about it about two months ago. I had to chuckle because it sounded like it came out of Meridian High School.

SPEAKER_01 12:50

Uh it was called Hoflation.

SPEAKER_00 12:57

And what it meant was you had women. Well, I need a man that does this and did this and pay much to look at. Now, you got five different kids from four different daddies. You have no skills to bring to the thing, you won't cook, you won't do this, you know, you have no homemaking skills, kids running amok, and yet you want a man that's making six figures, you want him to take you to the beauty shop, everything, you want him to have this and all this, all this list of demands. You know, now back in the day, Toby Keith even wrote a song about it, just a high maintenance woman. You know, I I went out with one of them. That didn't last long because I just wasn't that wasn't for me.

unknown 13:52

No.

SPEAKER_00 13:52

And I go, yeah, that that the investment's not worth the reward. Right. You know, and I'm I'm thankful though, in looking at this, that God is not a high maintenance God. Right. When you're in a relationship, that thing should click. You shouldn't have to define everything. You should already be in a if you're in a relationship, you should know what makes the other person click. You should know what ministers to the other person. That other person should know what ministers to you. And you you might not agree on everything, but there should be some kind of commonality and a desire to please the other person because you love them. And it's no different in being in a relationship with Jesus Christ, and that's what John's talking about here. Don't don't don't go off sinning. And the other thing that really gets me is he says this. Over in verse 9, no one who has been born of God practices sin. I would add to that for long. Because his seed remains in him and he cannot sin continually, because he has been born of God. So what he's saying is you got the Holy Spirit in you, and Holy Spirit ain't gonna let you keep doing that.

SPEAKER_01 15:27

You might mess up a little bit, but but there's gonna be conviction there. And and the Holy Spirit's not gonna leave you either.

SPEAKER_02 15:37

No, uh you you're not gonna you're not gonna sin and keep sinning uh and feel comfortable about it, to the point that the Holy Spirit says, you know what, I'm out of here. Um and I know people would say, Well, God will give them over to a reprobate mind. Uh we're talking about the unsaved there, uh not not the saved. Um but no, you'll uh you'll be very uncomfortable in your skin uh with the Holy Spirit living inside you, uh practicing practicing sin for very long. Uh so yeah, the Holy Spirit's not gonna leave you. He's gonna keep he's gonna keep uh keep knocking on your door, he's gonna keep whispering in your ear, and you'll just get uncomfortable.

Grace Over Guilt With Real Love

SPEAKER_00 16:21

Yep. And it also talks about those that those that didn't do that. Uh there's gonna be persecution, there's gonna be hatred. Uh verse 13. Do not be surprised, brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. Jesus said, If the world hates me, it's gonna hate you, and that's in John's gospel as well. And then he just admonishes us to love one another, to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters in Christ. And if you see something, you don't have to have a board meeting, you don't have to form it. Yeah, you don't you don't have to run it through the proper channels or all this. I love this in verse 17. Whoever has worldly goods and sees his brother and sister in need and closes his heart against them, how does the love of God remain in him? Little children, let's not love with word or tongue, but indeed in truth. Yep. So he's kind of echoing what James says here. Yeah. You show me your faith without your works, I'll show you my faith by my works. Right. And he's also talking about if you ever struggle here, one of the things, if our heart um, if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, he knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God.

SPEAKER_01 17:49

Oh man, I love that scripture, and I love that scripture amongst my brothers and sisters who who are so sin conscious.

SPEAKER_00 18:01

Let me interject something right there. Having been raised the way I was raised, Catholic guilt's a real damn thing. Yeah, yeah, I mean it is. So if you're coming out from that, learning how to walk in grace. John's a big proponent of grace. Paul's a big proponent of grace. Yeah, so so what you're talking about is you're just conscious constantly feeling guilty about stuff. And that's what John's talking about here, man. You know, you ain't got to be Catholic to have it. And I've seen some Pentecostals was oh yeah, even worse than the Catholics, but man, you you ain't experienced guilt until you've talked to a Jewish grandmother or German Catholic grandmother like mine. Good Lord, you know what you did.

SPEAKER_02 18:42

Yeah, we we had a conversation about this just last night, and the conversation turned to, oh, sin is just this, that. You know, I just pray every day that the Lord would keep me from sin and yada yada, and this sin and that, and sin, this, and that. And finally I I spoke up and I said, So, can I can I give you an analogy? Can I give you a story? And we talked about defensive driving. You know, just the analogy that I go to. We've talked about it here on a podcast, everything. I said, you know, you have a tendency to to hit whatever you're looking at. And if you're looking at or looking for sin all day long, around every corner, you're gonna run right into it. Um, well, you know, the Bible says this about sin and this and that. So, yeah, it also says if your heart doesn't condemn you, then you have confidence before God. So there it is. It says you have the ability to not feel condemned in your heart, and and not to make light of sin.

SPEAKER_00 19:42

You you don't want to do that. Right. There there are sin has consequences. It does. Sin has consequences, yet you got to realize that sin is not greater than the grace of God. Amen. Now, that being said, God laid down some rules. He did. He laid down some rules. Uh that if you're going to partake in this grace, there there's there's some ways to do it. And this is not this is not licentiousness.

SPEAKER_02 20:09

Right.

SPEAKER_00 20:09

Right. It's not that. And there's a lot of people that have tried to turn it into that. But but when you hear somebody saying, Oh, I don't want to sin, I don't, you know, keep me from sin, keep me from sin. Well, let me just get a little crude for a second. If you had a lonely housewife, said, Lord, keep me from committing adultery, Lord, keep me from committing adultery, Lord, keep me from committing adultery, what's going to happen sooner or later? Yeah. She won't commit adultery. Yeah. Because that's already in her heart. That door is open. Yeah. Yeah. She's just praying, Oh, keep me from acting on what I want to do.

SPEAKER_02 20:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:44

And that that was kind of where I was going with it too, is uh in our own relationships here, in our own earthly relationships with our wives and uh women with their husbands and whatnot. Um, you don't have to make, you're not making these conscious decisions every day to to not cheat on your spouse, to, to not lie to your spouse, to not do these things uh, you know, that are unhealthy in your relationship. You're not making these consciousness, you're just simply loving your spouse, and all these things that are contrary to the relationship are simply not happening.

SPEAKER_00 21:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:18

Well, the relationship with Jesus is very much like that.

SPEAKER_00 21:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:22

Um, if you simply, if you engage in a relationship, all the bad stuff kind of stops happening. Uh, you're still gonna have hard times. Yeah, but you know, the sin and the acts of sin and transgression, those things they they fall away.

SPEAKER_00 21:39

Yeah. That love is your compass, man. It's gonna keep you, it's gonna point you in the direction, and and you might get off the path a little bit and help you get right back on there.

SPEAKER_02 21:52

And I like that verse if your heart condemns you condemns you not, then you have confidence before God. So that means as as I'm loving the Lord and all those sinful things, all the thou shalt nots and all that stuff, all those things are falling away from me. Um, and I'm not feeling the guilt in my spirit anymore. And and well, now I'm gaining confidence in in the Lord, uh, which is helping to keep all that bad stuff away because the relationship is growing, which is equating to less and less condemnation in my heart, which equates to more confidence in the Lord. Boy, it just comes a it becomes a cycle.

SPEAKER_00 22:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:38

It just becomes a cycle. So you gotta let the Lord take charge.

SPEAKER_00 22:41

That's all it feeds itself in a good way.

SPEAKER_02 22:44

Yeah, you're right. Right.

SPEAKER_00 22:45

Rather than feed upon itself. Right, right.

unknown 22:48

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 22:50

First John chapter four. Beloved, 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. By this you know the spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard is coming and now is already in the world. You are from God little children and have overcome them because greater is he that is in you than he who is in the world. They are from the world, therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. The one who knows God listens to us. The one who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. You know, one of the things that jumps out here is that I've been part of Bible study and um drop in on every now and then. And one of the things John is doing right here is he's refuting the Gnostics, which used his gospel to you know perpetrate heresy, basically. And they said Jesus, Jesus wasn't in the flesh, it was all spiritual. No, it's a material world, and you basically got to hate the material world and all of it until you die, and then you'll be free from these restrictive things and gain all the secret knowledge. And so they're taking some truth, but they're man, they're perverting it. And they use John's gospel heavily to do that. John's not happy with them. But in doing this, uh, I've seen all sorts of goofy doctrines uh come up out of that where people trying to do exercise, you know, exorcism. And I asked him, I said, well, Jesus, did Jesus Christ come into flesh? Next thing you know, that thing jumped out. No, he didn't. And I knew it was a demon. You know, and you're just going, okay. But in all seriousness, you can tell by what's being preached out there, it's going to line up with the word. There'll be an inner witness. And Paul talks about preaching a different Jesus. If anybody does that, I don't care if it's an angel from heaven, let him be accursed. And so you have to know this Jesus, you have to know the biblical Jesus, you have to have a relationship with him, and right there you're going to be able to tell if something's off. And it don't take long. Just like when you first had the call on your life, and I'm not talking about, oh, you're called to be an evangelist, you're called to be a minister. No, I'm talking about just called to get born again. When the Holy Spirit start starts tugging at your heartstrings, when you feel that compulsion, if you were, and I know a lot of people don't like that, but me, it was it was a strong urging, it was a drawing near, and it was a hunger. But there was something about the gospel message that I knew was true instantly. Right. There's some gospel truths that were contrary to the way I had been raised. With all due respect to the way that I was raised. And the thing is, either one of two things happen. There's a lot of times I just go, I don't like this. A lot of times what happened was my flesh and my intellect got defensive. That can't be true because Reverend So-and-so said this, or Father So-and-so said this, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And you know, they wouldn't be wrong. And there's there's then the Holy Spirit's going, you need to listen. Yep. And it wasn't always me getting defensive, but there's some time, yep, that's true. Uh there we we call it having an inner witness.

unknown 27:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:13

I I asked a person last night.

SPEAKER_02 27:16

Um, we were having a discussion on on some things, and and it it got into some some theology and some denominational theology, and I and I finally asked him, I said, Well, if you don't mind me asking, who who taught who told you that?

SPEAKER_01 27:30

Did you read that in the scripture or did or did you learn that in church somewhere?

SPEAKER_02 27:39

Um, like you said, um some well, a lot of times the scriptures mess with your theology. They'll step all over it because it's something that was taught to you in error, uh, but it steps all over our pride and our ego because we have a hard time admitting when we're wrong. Um, it's just we don't want to do it. We don't want to admit that we were wrong. We don't want to admit that we we listened to the wrong person, uh, we we read the wrong book, uh, we did whatever it was, it just wasn't right.

SPEAKER_00 28:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:14

So it's just hard to that's a hard pill to swallow for us.

SPEAKER_00 28:18

It's the person that bought a lemon for a vehicle and then wants to tell you how good that vehicle is, even though it's costing them money, yeah. Right and the right and left.

SPEAKER_02 28:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:28

It's defending the bad decision because it was their decision.

SPEAKER_02 28:31

Yep. And gonna go go down with the ship because yeah, yeah, we it we've all done it. Everybody's done it.

Love That Casts Out Fear

SPEAKER_00 28:39

Oh, yeah, it's just pride and ego at his best, or at his worst, really. Exactly. Uh John, first John chapter four, verse seven. Beloved, let's love one another, for love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God because God is love. By this the love of God was revealed in us, that God has sent his only son into the world so that we may live through him. In this is love. Not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. 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 remains in us, and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we remain in him and he in us, because he is given to us of his spirit. That deserves repeating. By this we know that we remain in him and he in us, because he is given to us of his spirit. We have seen and testified that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment. Because as he is, we also are in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love because he first love us. If someone says, I love God, and yet he hates his brother or sister, he is a liar. For the one who does not love his brother and sister whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. I love that verse. And this com this commandment we have from him that the one who loves God must also love his brother and sister.

SPEAKER_01 31:09

Well, let's see what the scripture doesn't say.

SPEAKER_02 31:14

We know that we live in him and he in us because it felt good today. Doesn't say that.

SPEAKER_01 31:22

We know that we live in him and he be in us because the sun shined today. No, that's not I didn't say that.

SPEAKER_02 31:35

Um we know that he lives in us and we live in him uh because uh that we got no bad news today. No, no, no, no, no, no. It says that we live in him and he and us, or we know that we live in him and he and us because he has given us his spirit. So what that verse speaks to me, and and I love that verse, it says that we know that that we are in him and he is and he and us has nothing to do with our situation, has nothing to do with our circumstance, no matter how bad our day is, uh, how good our day is, no matter what our circumstance is. We we can stand on the faith that he has given us his spirit. And that's something. That's no that's no small thing. Uh because with his spirit comes power. Um the power to overcome, uh, the power to have joy and peace uh in in the midst of trial and tribulation that may not equate to happiness, uh, but joy and peace nonetheless.

SPEAKER_00 32:47

Uh yeah, you ain't overcoming. Yeah. You you ain't overcoming nothing if if there, you know. Yeah. I'm an overcomer. I want everything to be good, man. There's nothing to overcome. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:01

Uh the fact that we're that we'll we're gonna be overcomers uh implies that there's gonna be trial and tribulation to overcome.

Read Scripture For Yourself

SPEAKER_00 33:11

Yeah, I believe Paul said that we're more than conquerors through him who loved us. Well, that means there's a battle going on. Yeah, we had to conquer something. Yeah, so sometimes it's us. Well, one of the things I love that the Amplify bought out, you know, you're talking about different verses here in this chapter, verse seven. Beloved, let us unselfishly love and seek the best from one another, for love is from God, and everyone who loves others is born of God and knows God through personal experience.

SPEAKER_01 33:42

Um the the body of Christ needs so much of that right now.

SPEAKER_02 33:58

Um I had a little conversation with the Lord earlier today, and I don't know why we were on this topic. Um But we were just on the topic of how we're basically still telling still telling lies, you know, it in Christendom. We're still telling lies, um still telling things that we learned in Sunday school and and other places, but when you get into scripture, it's not really there. Uh, but uh but it was taught to us. And the world um is looking at the Bible and and hasn't found a way to um to to find contradictions yet. The world hasn't found a way to disapprove the Bible yet, but they sure can tear our stories apart. Uh and the reason they're tearing our stories apart is because they don't match what's in God's word. Um and the thing that I think the the image that popped up in my mind when we were having this conversation was you know simple stuff like the the Christmas story. Uh that we all know that Jesus wasn't born in December, we know that the Magi didn't visit him at the manger, and I was but we still perpetuate that. And it's really a small thing, I I think, but it's still one of those things. Uh but the world will always find error. If the world always finds error in our stories, then does that does that does that affect our our our power, does that affect our witness? Uh I think it can. Um certainly tells them that we don't believe our we don't believe God's word enough to read it.

SPEAKER_00 35:46

We would rather go with our traditions and get in the word for ourselves.

SPEAKER_02 35:50

Yeah. And we don't have um enough fear and reverence for the Lord to make a better choice of what we're going to read and listen to. So anyway, that was just a kind of a a random conversation me and the Lord had today. And really what it came down to is you know, keep reading the Bible, keep reading the word for yourself, keep reading it. And even if what you're reading is contradictory to some of the tradition you've heard over the years.

SPEAKER_00 36:21

Now, if there's if there's church tradition, just say it's church tradition.

SPEAKER_02 36:24

Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 36:25

And that's but that ain't but they ain't the same as scripture. Right. Just like people like to point out about the apocryphal books. Now, not saying there's not value in reading them, but uh, you know, uh they're really not scripture. Yeah, yeah, okay. When we start doing that with your church traditions, you know, hey, that's turn about fair play. Right, right. One of the other things I love in the Amplified 418. There is no fear in love. Dread does not exist. But perfect, complete, full-grown love drives out fear because fear involves the expectation of divine punishment. So the one who is afraid of God's judgment is not perfected in love, he has not grown into a sufficient understanding of God's love. We love because he first loved us. Yeah. Man, that can be a challenge. That can. I go, what a great way of saying it. And this is what Paul's talking, or I mean, this is what John's talking about earlier in the previous chapter. If our heart doesn't condemn us, we have confidence toward God. Rather than, oh, I'm afraid of judgment day. It's up, bring it on. Even even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus. Right. Right.

SPEAKER_01 37:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:54

I think that um things like that, the you know, looking towards the end, end times and end time events, uh the white throne judgment, judgment seat, stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01 38:09

For us as believers, um it'll be a flash in a pan uh when compared to the eternity spent with Jesus afterwards.

SPEAKER_02 38:22

Now I don't say that flippantly to to to downplay uh anything, but I say that because that's not that's not what I'm hung up on. You know, uh yeah, I'm I'm gonna stand in front of the Lord and give an account of all my words and deeds. Sure am. The Bible tells us it tells us what we're gonna do. Um but it also said we're gonna move on. We're not gonna camp out there. So um let your heart, let your heart have that confidence in God. Don't rob yourself of that blessing by uh by stoking up or fanning the flames of guilt inside yourself. Don't do that.

SPEAKER_00 39:06

Hey everybody, thanks for listening. We hope this challenges you and causes you to grow. Join us next week when we get into 1 John chapter 5. You can always check us out at woefoyo.org or subscribe on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Article, or even check us out on YouTube. Remember, folks, if you're going to grow, you got a woefoo. Get in the word for yourself.