Growing Up

You’ve heard the saying, “It’s not what you know; it’s who you know that counts.” But that’s not always true. When you’re taking a final exam, nothing matters more than what you know. I read about a high school senior who had already repeated the 12th grade three times, so to help him graduate, his teachers gave him all the questions before the final exam, and he still got almost every one wrong.As John closes his letter, he gives us what feels like a final exam of our own. Christianity begins with who you know, because you can know all about Jesus and the Bible and still not know Him personally. But it continues with what you know: “And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true …” (1 John 5:20, ESV). As you study four things you should know if you truly know Jesus, you will find you are ready to pass.Free Sermon Guide for This Series: https://www.touchinglives.org/storage/PDF%20Downloads/tl-sermon-guide_proof-positive_wks-4145_download.pdf To purchase Dr. Merritt's Books: https://www.touchinglives.org/shopConnect with Touching Lives today for FREE Christian ResourcesDaily Devotional: https://www.touchinglives.org/devotional-subscribeMobile App: https://subsplash.com/touchinglives/app

According to TIME Magazine, there are more than 64 million Google results for the question “What should I do?” We have entered what the article called a new golden age of advice, with apps, videos, and hotlines promising someone to talk to any time you need one. But there is one source of advice that is not just good, but perfect, and that is prayer.After three years with Jesus, watching Him work miracles and hearing Him teach, the disciples never once asked Him to teach them to preach or to walk on water. They only requested one thing, “Lord, teach us to pray.” John gives us that same lesson here: “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us” (1 John 5:14, ESV). As you study three reasons God’s will is the key to prayer, you will find the way to pray.

There’s only one way to really enjoy a flight: when you’re holding a boarding pass. You’re not sweating, not fretting, not searching the passenger list to see if your name comes up for an open seat. But if you’ve ever flown standby, you know the alternative, wondering if you’ll get a seat, not knowing until they shut that runway door. So many Christians live that way. They’re sure they’re saved one moment and doubting it the next. I’ll admit it, I have battled that same doubt myself. John wrote this letter so we would not have to. He says, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13, ESV). John was obsessed with that word “know.” He uses it 38 times in this short book. When God saves you, He gives you a boarding pass. Your flight will not be delayed, your seat won’t be denied, and your trip won’t be deterred. He does not want you wandering in a desert of doubt. He wants you walking on the avenue of assurance. Jesus Christ died on the cross to give us not a hope-so, think-so, feel-so salvation, but a know-so salvation. Here are the three reasons you can be dead certain about your salvation

In 1968, marathon runner John Stephen Akhwari of Tanzania crossed the Olympic finish line more than an hour after the winner, but it is still talked about today. His leg was bleeding, his knee dislocated, and his shoulder injured from a fall on the course. Only a few thousand people were left in the stands as the sun went down and he hobbled across the line. When someone asked why he didn’t quit, he said, “My country did not send me 5,000 miles to start the race; they sent me 5,000 miles to finish the race.” The Bible describes your life as a race, and the moment you give your life to Jesus Christ, you no longer run it for yourself; you run it for Him. First John 5 tells us that everyone born of God can overcome anything the world throws at them. As you look at three things you need to do to overcome, you will find exactly what it takes to finish well.

In the time it takes you to read this paragraph, your body will produce 17 million red blood cells. That’s double the population of New York City. And that blood already knows you better than your brain does, traveling 60,000 miles through your body and touching every part of you except the cornea of your eye. Without blood, there is no life in your body. The same is true spiritually. Years ago in seminary, a professor told me he was sick of what he called slaughterhouse religion and wanted the blood of Jesus taken out of our pulpits. But just as your body dies without blood, the body of Christ dies without His blood too. First John 1:7 says, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin” (ESV)

Every day around the world, the words “I love you” are spoken billions of times, and it is easy to see why, once you look at how much love dominates our culture. Of the millions of books published worldwide each year, 62.5% have love as a central theme, and roughly half of all major movies and songs released globally center on love as well. Psychiatrists and psychologists have found that among our greatest human needs are to be wanted, needed, and loved and that people who feel loved carry a 50% lower risk of depression. But no one knows more about love than the God who created it, and no author in Scripture wrote about love more than the apostle John, who used the word 85 times and gave us the most famous three words on the subject: “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16, ESV). John now turns from our love for God to God’s love for us, showing us four ways we can know that love is real.

In 1848, gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill in California. By 1849, more than 100,000 prospectors had flooded the state, hoping to strike it rich. Many of these inexperienced miners were badly fooled when they mistook pyrite for real gold. It shined. It sparkled. It looked valuable. But it was not gold, so it earned the name “fool’s gold.” To tell the difference, prospectors learned to test it: Real gold dents when you bite it or press it with a knife, while pyrite cracks. Real gold leaves a yellow streak when rubbed on porcelain, while pyrite leaves a black one.

Dr. Martin Luther King said, “Love is the most powerful force in the universe,” and that is true, not just because he said it, but because Jesus said the same thing in God’s Word when He gave us the two greatest commandments: Love God and love your neighbor. If everyone truly loved this way, we would not need jails, weapons, or courts, because love never fails.

There is a message that needs to be shouted from the rooftops to every man and woman between the ages of 21 and 30: Grow up. In 1960, 66% of men and 77% of women had hit all five traditional adulthood milestones by age 30—leaving home, getting formal schooling, marrying, having a child, and gaining financial independence. By 2010, only 28% of men and 39% of women had done the same, and by 2026 that number is expected to fall to somewhere between 15 and 25%.

The Cleveland Clinic is ranked the #2 hospital in the world, renowned for cardiology and heart surgery. Imagine going there with a serious heart issue—you’d have brilliant surgeons, skilled nurses, advanced imaging, and the best care available. But the most important part of that hospital isn’t what you see; it’s what you don’t see: the power plant. No matter how great the surgeons or how advanced the equipment, if the power plant fails, nothing can be done. The hospital becomes no more valuable than a cabin in the woods.