Good Morning Y’all. Today we are reading 3 John.

Holy Spirit we ask you open our eyes to see, our ears to hear and our hearts to perceive the truth in the word today. Without you we can’t understand what we are reading so we ask for your help. In Jesus Name. Amen.

Be blessed 🙂

1) God’s desire is for us to prosper and be in good health both in body and soul. That is physical prosperity and spiritual prosperity. Physical prosperity alone is perishable – here today gone tomorrow hence why John says we need physical as much as we need the spiritual. Spiritual prosperity is imperishable – It lasts forever.
Spiritual prosperity means:
a)To have Jesus living in our hearts. Not just living but allowing him have full reign of everything in our lives.
b) To have his word engrafted in our hearts. James 1:21 NLT says “So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls.”

Our actions thoughts and words will be shaped by Jesus if we invite him into our hearts to live and allow him have full control. That is total surrender of every aspect of our lives to him. When we do this we will experience the spiritual prosperity John prayed for in V2.

2) We are to support missionaries. Let’s support them in prayers and any other way we can physically. By doing this we become partakers in their ministry as they spread the gospel around the world.

3) In v9 and 10 we see Diotrephes refused to obey the instructions laid out to support missionaries. He appointed himself as the leader and therefore instructed his followers to not obey the command.  Those who obeyed the command, he put them out of the church.
Few things to glean from those verses:
a) As a leader you need to be careful the example you are setting for your followers.  The bible says to whom much is given much is expected. Don’t abuse your position of authority.

b) As followers, let’s know God for ourselves.  Let’s stop relying on pastors or spiritual leaders to tell us everything we need to know about God. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good to learn from our pastors but we also need to go back to the source – God- His word to confirm what we have been taught is in line with God!. Rem in 2 Peter 2, we were told to be weary of false prophets and I tell you there are so many of them around today. A lot of Christians have fallen into their trap because they are too lazy to find out the truth for themselves in Gods word or they just gullible because they want fast results and this so called prophet has promised fast results when you pay him 1000 bucks to buy healing water (that’s just an example I have witnessed myself). Where in the bible did Jesus sell healing to anyone? Let’s wake up from this slumber and take charge. Let’s be like the berean Christians in the book of acts who always went back to the bible to confirm what they’ve been taught (Acts 17:11). Plus we have the spirit of truth in us, he tells us when things are just not right or contrary to God. We need to learn to listen to his voice and obey him.

c) Sometimes as Christians we will pay dearly for choosing to do the right thing as oppose to doing wrong. In the verse we see that those who chose to help the missionaries were excommunicated from the church. We have to trust God enough to know that when we obey him, even if it costs us dearly, he will SURELY reward us. It might be very tough but if we persevere, he will surely come through for us. Look at the Hebrew boys in the book of Daniel, they refused to bow down to idol. They were thrown into the fire but the fire didn’t consume them! Infact as a result of their obedience, the King came to accept God as the one true and living God. Guys the world is waiting for us. They are waiting to see if we will take a stand for this God we claim to serve. Today lets make a decision to obey God even if it will cost us everything we have.
Ponder on your life, be honest with yourself and ask what price am i willing to pay for God today. It could be a small thing such as holding your tongue when you are tempted to curse or scream at someone. At that point your flesh is not happy and wants to have its way but when you choose to do right you will feel better and at peace. I believe when we learn to sacrifice the small things for God and enjoy the benefit of the obedience, it makes it easier for us to be willing to sacrifice the big things when the time comes.

4) Imitate the good that we see in others and not the evil. People think its okay to do wrong because the leader or someone you place in high esteem is doing it. Just because they are, doesnt make it right.  John in verse 11 is reminding the people not to imitate the bad example set by Diotrephes but to imitate only what is good. He went on further to say those who do good prove that they are Gods children  and those who do evil prove that they do not know God or have an understanding of him. Remember,  we are all going to stand individually in front of God on judgement day. Saying my pastor did it and that’s why i also did it, just wont cut it on that day.

Prayer
Dear Lord thank you for today. Thank you for allowing us learn at your feet. We pray that we prosper and be in good health even as our souls prosper. We ask for the grace to take a stand for you even when it will cost us dearly. Thank you Lord. In Jesus Name. AMEN

Thanks for joining us today.  Feel free to share your thots on the chapter.

Tomorrow we will be reading the book of Jude.

Have a blessed day. Remember, when we obey God even if it costs us dearly, He will surely reward us.