Mountain Valley Church of God

John’s warning against false teachers

1 John 2:18-19 John’s warning against false teachers. 18 Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour. Again, we see John address the churches that he is writing to as a loving […]

Do Not Love The World Pt. 2

1st John 2:16-17 Do Not Love The World Pt. 2—The Lust of the Flesh, The Lust of the Eyes, and the Pride of Life 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but […]

Do Not Love the World

1st John 2:15-17 Part 1:  15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Do not love the world An obstacle to the spiritual growth which can hinder the progress toward spiritual maturity that we talked about last […]

Spiritual Maturity

1 John 2:12-14 12 I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you on account of His name. John’s just spent time giving them evidence that they’re saved saying that if they follow God’s commands out of love for Him, then it is evidence that they are saved.  If you’re […]

Love Fellow Christians

9 The one who says that he is in the Light and yet hates his brother or sister is in the darkness until now. We’ve looked at our love for God as measured by our obedience to His commands now we look at our loving relationships with our brothers and sisters in Christ as a […]

Love one Another; Be the Light of the World

1 John 2:7-8 7 Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you When we understand what God has done for us in sending Jesus to the Cross, and what Jesus has done in dying for us, for our sins so that we can have relationship with God, then we love God. We obey […]

Abide in Love by Walking in Obedience

1 John 2:5-6 5 but whoever follows His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: Whoever follows His Word We know that we are saved because we obey God’s commandments. And we are obedient to God out of love for Him.  We […]

Knowing God is Keeping His Commandments

1 John 2:3-4 3 By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; 3 By this we know A healthy relationship with […]

Jesus is Our Atoning Sacrifice

1 John 2:2 and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. He Himself Not only is Jesus our Advocate in Heaven who works on our behalf, He is also the sacrifice that cleanses us and satisfies God’s just wrath, making […]

1 John 2:1 Christ Is Our Advocate

2:1  My little children, I am writing these things to you In this verse, John reveals another of his purposes in writing this epistle.  He doesn’t want us to sin.  Even though he has already reminded them that they are sinful and do continue to sin, and have sin that is in need of confession, […]

Be Honestwith God pt.3

1:10 If we say that we have not sinned, John is warning us against an attitude toward sin that any believer, including him, could fall into and thereby do harm to their fellowship with God.  This is the kind of claim that might be made by one who admits to a sin nature, but sees […]

Be Honest with God—Part II

We have a choice, to confess before the Lord, or not, but there are two things that occur if confession does occur. All believers, John included, must acknowledge our sin before God, in order to experience Jesus’ cleansing work. Agreement with God in Mutual understanding of Guilt Before Him-And the idea behind the word “confess” […]

Be Honest with God

1 John 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. 8a If we say that we have no sin, Now that John has reminded us of the complete moral purity of God, and of the necessity of walking in the light, John wants […]

God is Light

5a This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you 1st John is an attestation by an eye-witness of what John heard.  John is bearing witness that this comes directly from God.  5b that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. So John begins the main […]

Koinonia—Fellowship with Christ and One Another

3 what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. These first three verses serve as the prologue of this epistle.  First John is written to encourage us, as believers, […]

The Incarnate Word of Life

Authorship-The author of this epistle is John, the beloved Apostle, the author of the gospel of John, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John, as well as Revelation.  There is no surviving early copy of the epistle that does not attribute it to him in the title.  Unanimous attribution of the early church (including Ignatius in 110 […]

Be A Godly Father

All human fathers are imperfect. That’s why we need a Heavenly Father. To be a Godly father, we  emulate our Heavenly Father.  Genesis 18:19 tells us that God chose Abraham because of his fatherhood, even before he was a father to Isaac.  Genesis 18:19  19 For I have chosen him, so that he may command […]

Matthew 7:26-29 Don’t Build Your House on the Sand

And everyone who hears these words of Mine In Luke Luke 6:46, He says everyone who comes to me. Everyone who hears or reads Jesus’ words is responsible for activing on them.  Although many at least intend to act on them, not everyone does.  This week we’re looking at the false Christian, the pseudo-Christian, the […]

Matthew 7:24-25: Be Wise, Build Your House on the Rock

Jesus has finished His foundational instructions to His disciples, and to us, about what it means to be a true follower of Jesus.  Jesus, the Word from the Beginning, is our foundation, the rock on which our life, our house is built, and His teachings tell us what it means to be His disciple.  If […]

Is Jesus Truly the Lord of Your Life?

Lord—Kurios–“one who is in charge by virtue of possession”, the owner, a persion in a position of authority exercising absolute ownership rights as Lord.  There is a difference between paying lip-service to Jesus as Lord, and actually making Him Lord of your life  “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’       Jesus is contrasting […]

The Tree and the Fruit: Part 2

Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they? Grapes and figs are good fruit.  In the Old Testament, the nation of Israel is symbolized as a fig tree.  We see Israel represented as a fig tree (in Hosea 9:10 and in Jeremiah 24), or a fig tree that bears no […]

The Tree and the Fruit:  Part 1

False prophets are defined as those who, claim for themselves the capacity to define for others the will of God, but represent in their practice and teaching a false understanding of the will of God, specifically an understanding that is not in accord with scripture.  Jesus is warning us of wolves that disguise themselves as […]

Motherhood is hard

Even from the beginning, God said being a mother would not be easy (Gen 3:16).  Motherhood of course it’s wonderful in so many ways.  There’s a special bond between mothers and their children that is often the deepest bond with another human being that we have. The Bible is filled with examples of the struggles […]

Matthew 7:15 Beware of False Prophets

15 “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. We’re talking about false prophets today, and the best way to spot a counterfeit is to know what the genuine article looks like.  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches the true meaning of the Law […]

Matthew 7:13-14 Jesus, the One Way to Life

Enter through the narrow gate The first question that we have to ask about this verse is Enter Where?  Jesus is teaching about the Way to Eternal life.  Long before being a Christ-follower was called Christianity, it was first called simply The Way.  We are not only Christ followers, but we are identified personally with […]

He is Risen:  Matthew 28:1-8

28 Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. The Gospel of Matthew presents the Resurrection of Jesus as the culmination of Jesus’ mission as the Messiah.  As followers of Jesus, it’s important for us to understand that […]

Matthew 7:12 The Golden Rule

Therefore When we put the Golden rule in the context of the theme of judging others only with righteous judgement, this summary statement becomes clear.  In everything We all know what it’s like to read Jesus’ words “Love your neighbor as yourself” and say to ourselves ‘Yes, I agree, how wonderful, it makes sense to […]

A Changed Life

God Gives Good Gifts

We talked last week about asking and seeking and knocking and that it’s the very act of giving our lives over more and more to God that causes us to be quick to hear the Holy Spirit’s direction, and to obey what He has to say.  Jeremiah 29:11 11 For I know the plans that […]

Matthew 7:7-8  Ask Him, Seek Him and Keep Knocking.

First Jesus cautioned us against judging in the flesh with it’s biases in not being able to see the truth because of our own prejudice and in hypocrisy.  Then Jesus tells us that we can’t refuse to make discerning judgement.  Jesus gave us the responsibility to judge righteously and with grace.  Who is sufficient to […]

Don’t Throw Pearls Before Swine

6 “Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces. The general tendency of human nature, according to the flesh is going to be try to set ourselves above others as a critic, […]

First See Clearly, Then Help Others See

Matthew 7:3-4 Being discerning does not directly lead to being a ‘judge’ in the sense of being condemning.  The person who is practicing the kind of judgement that Jesus is warning against is the fault-finder, the sin-sniffer, the self-appointed fruit inspector who is negative and destructive towards other people and enjoys actively seeking out their […]

Matthew 7:1-2 Do Not Judge

How many times have you heard someone ________: “The Bible says don’t judge”?  There is a call by the world today to be ________________ of any evil that the world can come up with, to bow before any god that the world will put up.  Jesus says in Matthew 7:1, “Do Not Judge”.  So, where […]

Do Not Worry About Tomorrow

34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, Some people are tempted to be overcome and _________________ by their worldly possessions in the sense of wanting to hoard them and store them up, amassing them as security against some future calamity.  Others spend their lives concerned about them in the sense that they ____________ continually about their […]

Seek First His Kingdom

33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Seek Jesus is states this as a command “You all seek now first the Kingdom of God”.  This word for seek means to search for, to pursue, to endeavor to __________ and find by any means.  We […]

God Understands our Needs and Will Provide – Matthew 6:30-32

Flowers only bloom for a little while, and then their beauty fades.  They are ______________.  People of Jesus’ day would heat their ____________ with grass when wood was in short supply.  So, grass could indeed be blooming today, and tomorrow _____________ into the furnace.  For all their beauty, flowers do not rank ____________ in the […]

Matthew 6:29-30 Don’t Worry, Grow Instead

28 And why are you worried about clothing? We talked a couple of weeks ago about the fact that neither clothes nor the present extremes of climate that we experience in the world were originally part of God’s design.  We need to remember why we’re wearing clothes in the first place—because of sin and shame, and so […]

Don’t Worry Your Life Away – Matt 6:26-27

26 Look at the birds of the sky, that they do not sow, nor reap, nor gather crops into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more important than they? Jesus illustrates that anxiety is __________ because it represents a failure to trust God as provider.  Jesus asks us to […]

Matthew 6:25-26: Don’t be Anxious; God Will Provide

25 “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is life not more than food, and the body more than clothing?  For this reason Since being greedy for gain is ________________ in disciples, then we […]

Spiritual Inventory Part III—Relationships

God came up with the idea of relationships when He decided to create man and have fellowship with Him in the Garden.  Half-hearted allegiance to the _________ of Christ not only robs Jesus of the honor and glory due to Him, but also robs us of the joy and fulfillment and purpose for which He […]

Spiritual Inventory 2 – Relationship with God

This week we’re picking up where we left off in talking about taking a _____________ end of the year inventory.  What does it mean to ________with the Lord in relationship with Him?  We’re Created to be in Relationship with God See Gen 2:8-9; 15.  Gen 2:31 And God saw all that He had made, and […]

Year-End Inventory, Part 1

At the end of the year, business owners are busy taking an end of the year ________________.  First, it means taking a look at the inventory count.  Next, an _________________ is made of any inventory discrepancies.  Then, a _____________ is made to see if the discrepancy is in the spreadsheets or software being used, or […]

Luke 2:1-7: Jesus Born in Bethlehem, and in our Hearts

2 Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth. 2This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. Caesar Augustus had brought the Roman Republic so much under his _____________, that finally he had transformed it into the Roman Empire.  […]

Luke 2 vs 8-14: Joy to the World

8 In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock at night. David had fed his sheep in those same fields around Bethlehem, and today, 3,000 years later, there are still shepherds feeding ___________ in those fields.  Shepherds typically kept watch over their fields by night from April […]

The Wise Men Visit Jesus

2 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea The wise men did not arrive until after the birth of Jesus.  But, just how soon after Jesus’ birth their visit occurred is a matter of ______________.  (see Leviticus 12:1-4).  It took a full forty days before her purification would have been completed.  And on the forty-first […]

The Hope of Christmas

1 Peter 1:10-12 speaks of God revealing the circumstances of the birth of the Messiah to His _______________.  As Christians, followers of Christ, we are __________________ of all the prophets hoped and prayed for.  It is this hope of the ages, the ____________ of the Messiah, which we celebrate at Christmas.  Prophecy Prophecy isn’t predicting […]

Matthew 6:24 pt. 2–You cannot serve God and Wealth.

Our King _______________ division of our loyalties.  WE have ________ soul, and we cannot have two master passions of our life.  The interests of God and the other master passion would soon come into ____________, and as Exodus 34:14 says 14 —for you shall not worship any other god, because the Lord, whose name is […]

Matthew 6:24: No-one can serve two masters (Part 1)

Matthew 6:24:  No-one can serve two masters  (Part 1) 24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. Last week we talked about how easily we depart from the path of […]

Matthew 6:22-23: Keep your Eyes on Jesus

Jesus is drawing the disciples’ attention to the fact that there is more to life than the accumulation of riches and understand the eternal perspective; as Colossians 3:2 says, to “set our minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.”  22 “The eye is the lamp of the body; so then, […]

Store up Treasures in Heaven Matthew 6:19-21

19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, Jesus is drawing the disciples’ attention to the fact that there is more to life than the accumulation of riches. He’s trying to get them to understand the eternal perspective, rather than focus all their resources on something that will only last during this life. […]