Christ Community Church, 410 South 14th Street, Reading, PA (2026)

06/10/2026

June 9
Believe In The Name Of God's Son Jesus Christ!
1 John 3:22-24; Psalm 127; Acts 19

1 John 3:22-24 says, "and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.

Matthew Henry says, "When believers had confidence towards God, through the Spirit of adoption, and by faith in the great High Priest, they might ask what they would of their reconciled Father. They would receive it, if good for them. And as good-will to men was proclaimed from heaven, so good-will to men, particularly to the brethren, must be in the hearts of those who go to God and heaven. He who thus follows Christ, dwells in Him as his ark, refuge, and rest, and in the Father through him. This union between Christ and the souls of believers, is by the Spirit he has given them. A man may believe that God is gracious before he knows it; yet when faith has laid hold on the promises, it sets reason to work. This Spirit of God works a change; in all true Christians it changes from the power of Satan to the power of God. Consider, believer, how it changes thy heart. Dost not thou long for peace with God? Wouldst thou not forego all the world for it? No profit, pleasure, or preferment shall hinder thee from following Christ. This salvation is built upon Divine testimony, even the Spirit of God."

Could it be that we ask and do not receive, because we don't keep his commandments and do what please him, and so we ask with impure motives so that I could spend what I get on my own pleasures, like Jesus said? Here the Word says that whatever we ask we receive from God, and it is linked to our obedience and doing what pleases Him. If we delight ourselves in the Lord, he will give us the desire of our hearts. If we delight ourselves in the Lord, He is the desire of our hearts, and so there is no idolatrous pursuit of other things. The commandment of God is to believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ, which I really do, and also love one another. Faith and love flow out from the heart that is obedient to God. Whoever keeps Christ's commandment abides in God, and God in Him. Please give me this obedience, this abiding, dear God. Help me to love you and obey you like this! May the Spirit testify with our spirits that we are the children of God, and that we do in fact abide in you! Thank you for loving me and laying your life down for me my precious Lord!

06/10/2026

June 8
Christ Laid Down His Life For Us, We Ought To Lay Down Our Lives
From C.B.
1 John 3:16-21; Psalm 126; Acts 18

1 John 3:16-21 says, "By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God;

Matthew Henry says, "Here is the condescension, the miracle, the mystery of Divine love, that God would redeem the church with his own blood. Surely we should love those whom God has loved, and so loved. The Holy Spirit, grieved at selfishness, will leave the selfish heart without comfort, and full of darkness and terror. By what can it be known that a man has a true sense of the love of Christ for perishing sinners, or that the love of God has been planted in his heart by the Holy Spirit, if the love of the world and its good overcomes the feelings of compassion to a perishing brother? Every instance of this selfishness must weaken the evidences of a man's conversion; when habitual and allowed, it must decide against him. If conscience condemn us in known sin, or the neglect of known duty, God does so too. Let conscience therefore be well-informed, be heard, and diligently attended to."

Christ laid down His life for u, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. We should not close our hearts toward our brothers in need. If we do close our hearts against someone, this is a sign that we are heading in a bad direction. Be must evidence God's love abides in us, and that happens when we open up our hearts to our brothers. We are love not in mere word or talk, but in deed and in truth. When our heart condemns us, it is good to know that God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. We don't know the half of how evil our hearts have been, but God knows it all, and has chosen to lay His life down for us that we might be free from the eternal condemnation that we deserve. May our hearts have confidence in God flowing out from true godliness and faith in Christ who laid down His life for us!

06/10/2026

June 7
Whoever Does Not Love Abides In Death
From C.B.
1 John 3:11-15; Psalm 125; Acts 17

1 John 3:11-15 says, "For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous. Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him."

Matthew Henry says, "We should love the Lord Jesus, value his love, and therefore love all our brethren in Christ. This love is the special fruit of our faith, and a certain sign of our being born again. But none who rightly know the heart of man, can wonder at the contempt and enmity of ungodly people against the children of God. We know that we are passed from death to life: we may know it by the evidences of our faith in Christ, of which love to our brethren is one. It is not zeal for a party in the common religion, or affection for those who are of the same name and sentiments with ourselves. The life of grace in the heart of a regenerate person, is the beginning and first principle of a life of glory, whereof they must be destitute who hate their brother in their hearts."

Loving our brothers, and not hating them like Cain did Abel, is evidence that we have been truly born again and have passed from death into life. No matter how much we are provoked, we must take care to make sure that we never hate our brother. Even if they wrong us greatly, we should forgive as the Lord has forgiven us! We should be patient with them all, and love them deeply, from the heart, even in their weakest moments. We should love one another, for God has chosen to love us even while we were yet sinners. The world is going to hate us, for it hated our Lord Jesus, and Jesus told us that the world would hate us. We are to love our enemies, and pray for those who persecute us, and abide in love. For those who do not love abide in death. God forgive me for the many times I have not loved you or my brothers the way you call me to. When they have sinned against me and done me harm, I have not been as loving and patient as I am called to be. I love you so much and thank you for your forgiveness to me that I do not deserve.

06/06/2026

June 6
No One Who Abides In Him Keeps On Sinning
1 John 3:3-10; Psalm 124; Acts 16

1 John 3:3-10 says, "And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

Matthew Henry says, "The sons of God know that their Lord is of purer eyes than to allow any thing unholy and impure to dwell with him. It is the hope of hypocrites, not of the sons of God, that makes allowance for gratifying impure desires and lusts. May we be followers of him as his dear children, thus show our sense of his unspeakable mercy, and express that obedient, grateful, humble mind which becomes us. Sin is the rejecting the Divine law. In him, that is, in Christ, was no sin. All the sinless weaknesses that were consequences of the fall, he took; that is, all those infirmities of mind or body which subject man to suffering, and expose him to temptation. But our moral infirmities, our proneness to sin, he had not. He that abides in Christ, continues not in the practice of sin. Renouncing sin is the great proof of spiritual union with, continuance in, and saving knowledge of the Lord Christ. Beware of self-deceit. He that doeth righteousness is righteous, and to be a follower of Christ, shows an interest by faith in his obedience and sufferings. But a man cannot act like the devil, and at the same time be a disciple of Christ Jesus. Let us not serve or indulge what the Son of God came to destroy. To be born of God is to be inwardly renewed by the power of the Spirit of God. Renewing grace is an abiding principle. Religion is not an art, a matter of dexterity and skill, but a new nature. And the regenerate person cannot sin as he did before he was born of God, and as others do who are not born again. There is that light in his mind, which shows him the evil and malignity of sin. There is that bias upon his heart, which disposes him to loathe and hate sin. There is the spiritual principle that opposes sinful acts. And there is repentance for sin, if committed. It goes against him to sin with forethought. The children of God and the children of the devil have their distinct characters. The seed of the serpent are known by neglect of religion, and by their hating real Christians. He only is righteous before God, as a justified believer, who is taught and disposed to righteousness by the Holy Spirit. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil. May all professors of the gospel lay these truths to heart, and try themselves by them."

No one who abides in Christ keeps on sinning. Christians struggle with remaining indwelling sin, but a true Christian never makes a practice of sin, never lives in sin, never walks perpetually in unrighteousness and lawlessness, for he has been born again, and has been united together with Christ, who never sinned. As Habbakuk 1:13 says, "You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong"...speaking of God, speaks of his total and perfect holiness, and how we cannot hope to live before Him if we do not walk in and practice righteousness, and love our brother. So let even the slightest temptation to sin fill us with terror, for Christ came to destroy the works of the devil. Let us see that we repent of and turn away from and forsake all sin, and walk in the pure footsteps of Christ, for He laid down His life and shed his blood to atone for our sin and redeem us from it!

06/05/2026

June 5
See What Kind Of Love The Father Has Given To Us!
1 John 3:1-2; Psalm 123; Acts 15

1 John 3:1-2 says, "See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

Matthew Henry says, "Little does the world know of the happiness of the real followers of Christ. Little does the world think that these poor, humble, despised ones, are favourites of God, and will dwell in heaven. Let the followers of Christ be content with hard fare here, since they are in a land of strangers, where their Lord was so badly treated before them. The sons of God must walk by faith, and live by hope. They may well wait in faith, hope, and earnest desire, for the revelation of the Lord Jesus. The sons of God will be known, and be made manifest by likeness to their Head. They shall be transformed into the same image, by their view of him."

We who repent of our sin and believe in Christ, have been given love by the Father, and are called the children of God, for we have been adopted into his very own family as His sons and daughters. Thank you for that Father. The world did not know God, and therefore they do not know us as Christians. We are pilgrims here, elect exiles, sojourners, whose true home is with God. We are in the wilderness here, but will soon be in the promised land of the new heavens and new earth with God. We will see God, will see Jesus face to face, and we will be like Him fully for the very first time. For what we will be has not yet appeared, for we are not yet with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We are one with Him, and soon will be with Him, and all will be forever well, for to be with Jesus will be the summit of all happiness and joy and pleasure. Thank you for dying for such a sinner like me Jesus, in order that I might know you, and more importantly, that I might be known by you. I love you my dear heavenly Father! Thank you for the love you have given to me, to us!

06/04/2026

June 4
Let The Truth You Heard From The Beginning Abide In You
1 John 2:24-29; Psalm 122; Acts 14

1 John 2:24-29 says, "Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life. I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him. And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.

Matthew Henry says, "The truth of Christ, abiding in us, is a means to sever from sin, and unites us to the Son of God, John 15:3,4. What value should we put upon gospel truth! Thereby the promise of eternal life is made sure. The promise God makes, is suitable to his own greatness, power, and goodness; it is eternal life. The Spirit of truth will not lie; and he teaches all things in the present dispensation, all things necessary to our knowledge of God in Christ, and their glory in the gospel. The apostle repeats the kind words, little children; which denotes his affection. He would persuade by love. Gospel privileges oblige to gospel duties; and those anointed by the Lord Jesus abide with him. The new spiritual nature is from the Lord Christ. He that is constant to the practice of religion in trying times, shows that he is born from above, from the Lord Christ. Then, let us beware of holding the truth in unrighteousness, remembering that those only are born of God, who bear his holy image, and walk in his most righteous ways."

Repeatedly John focuses on the call for us as anointed ones, as believers in Christ, to abide in Christ, abide in His Word that we have heard, and to walk in righteousness, which is fitting for repentant believers. God is so good, and so loving and tender to His people. Here he reminds us to remain closely connected to Christ, to keep up the habit of constant close communion with Him, as J.C. Ryle says. For God is righteous, and all His ways are good, and we are called to walk in righteousness flowing out from the amazing grace we have received through the cross. I love you God, and repent of how many times I fall short. Thank you for your patience and steadfast love toward me.

06/03/2026

June 3
If We Confess The Son We Have The Father
1 John 2:18-23; Psalm 121; Acts 13

1 John 2:18-23 says, "Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.

Matthew Henry says, "Every man is an antichrist, who denies the Person, or any of the offices of Christ; and in denying the Son, he denies the Father also, and has no part in his favour while he rejects his great salvation. Let this prophecy that seducers would rise in the Christian world, keep us from being seduced. The church knows not well who are its true members, and who are not, but thus true Christians were proved, and rendered more watchful and humble. True Christians are anointed ones; their names expresses this: they are anointed with grace, with gifts and spiritual privileges, by the Holy Spirit of grace. The great and most hurtful lies that the father of lies spreads in the world, usually are falsehoods and errors relating to the person of Christ. The unction from the Holy One, alone can keep us from delusions. While we judge favourably of all who trust in Christ as the Divine Saviour, and obey his word, and seek to live in union with them, let us pity and pray for those who deny the Godhead of Christ, or his atonement, and the new-creating work of the Holy Ghost. Let us protest against such antichristian doctrine, and keep from them as much as we may."

The fact that it is the last hour is mentioned twice in this passage, which is meant to impress an urgency on all of us to cling to Christ and the truth in the scriptures about Him. There are many who deny Christ, and reject Him and His Lordship, and reject that He is God, and reject that He became fully God and fully man at the incarnation, and who deny the atonement He finished on the cross, and who deny His resurrection from the dead. They deny Jesus as messiah, they deny Him and so do not have the Father either. These individuals are lost, and yet they speak much religious language. They are antichrist's in a sea of antichrist's, and we must turn away from them and listen only to the Good Shepherd's voice, who laid down His life for the sheep. Many who were once with us, and in the church, are no longer with us, and were never of us, and this was proven because they did go out from the fellowship of those who walk in the truth of Christ. Let us confess with our mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in our heart that God raised Him from the dead, and we will be saved! If we confess the Son we have the Father also!

06/03/2026

June 2
The World Is Passing Away, So Do The Will Of God And Abide Forever
From C.B.
1 John 2:15-17; Psalm 120; Acts 12

1 John 2:15-17 says, "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

Matthew Henry says, "The things of the world may be desired and possessed for the uses and purposes which God intended, and they are to be used by his grace, and to his glory; but believers must not seek or value them for those purposes to which sin abuses them. The world draws the heart from God; and the more the love of the world prevails, the more the love of God decays. The things of the world are classed according to the three ruling inclinations of depraved nature. 1. The lust of the flesh, of the body: wrong desires of the heart, the appetite of indulging all things that excite and inflame sensual pleasures. 2. The lust of the eyes: the eyes are delighted with riches and rich possessions; this is the lust of covetousness. 3. The pride of life: a vain man craves the grandeur and pomp of a vain-glorious life; this includes thirst after honour and applause. The things of the world quickly fade and die away; desire itself will ere long fail and cease, but holy affection is not like the lust that passes away. The love of God shall never fail. Many vain efforts have been made to evade the force of this passage by limitations, distinctions, or exceptions. Many have tried to show how far we may be carnally-minded, and love the world; but the plain meaning of these verses cannot easily be mistaken. Unless this victory over the world is begun in the heart, a man has no root in himself, but will fall away, or at most remain an unfruitful professor. Yet these vanities are so alluring to the corruption in our hearts, that without constant watching and prayer, we cannot escape the world, or obtain victory over the god and prince of it."

Many desire to get as close to the world as possible, and yet remain a Christian. But a true Christian does not love the world, but turns away from it, and flees from it like Lot should have fled from S***m. But we often want to turn and look at it as angels are dragging us away from it, and like Lot's wife, many turn to pillars of salt because they need to have another glance due to loving the world. May God give us grace to fight the good fight of the faith, and turn away from the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, for these things do indeed decay the soul, and drain it of love for God. May God protect us from that!

06/03/2026

June 1
Little Children, Your Sins Are Forgiven For His Name's Sake
From C.B.
1 John 2:12-14; Psalm 119; Acts 11

1 John 2:12-14 says, "I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake. I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, children, because you know the Father.
I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

Matthew Henry says, "As Christians have their peculiar states, so they have peculiar duties; but there are precepts and obedience common to all, particularly mutual love, and contempt of the world. The youngest sincere disciple is pardoned: the communion of saints is attended with the forgiveness of sins. Those of the longest standing in Christ's school need further advice and instruction. Even fathers must be written unto, and preached unto; none are too old to learn. But especially young men in Christ Jesus, though they are arrived at strength of spirit and sound sense, and have successfully resisted first trials and temptations, breaking off bad habits and connexions, and entered in at the strait gate of true conversion. The different descriptions of Christians are again addressed. Children in Christ know that God is their Father; it is wisdom. Those advanced believers, who know Him that was from the beginning, before this world was made, may well be led thereby to give up this world. It will be the glory of young persons to be strong in Christ, and his grace. By the word of God they overcome the wicked one."

It is so good to know that we are God's little children, and that He loves us as such, and that we are forgiven for His name's sake! God writes to us as fathers, and says twice that we know him who is from the beginning. Older age gives us an experience of knowing God, and reveling in the truth that He exists and that He is from the beginning. God the Father has existed always, and from eternity past He has been enjoying communion with the Son and the Holy Spirit. Christ was in the beginning with God the Father. It has been revealed to us fathers these truths, and we know him who is from the beginning! Thank you for enabling us to know you God! Young men who are converted to Christ are strong, and abide in Jesus and His Word, and have overcome the evil one. The finished work of Christ covers all of us children of God, and we are forgiven for God's sake!

05/31/2026

May 31
Love Your Brothers, Hating Them Proves That You Are Walking In Darkness
1 John 2:7-11; Psalm 118; Acts 10

1 John 2:7-11 says, "Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

Matthew Henry says, "The command to love one another had been in force from the beginning of the world; but it might be called a new command as given to Christians. It was new in them, as their situation was new in respect of its motives, rules, and obligations. And those who walk in hatred and enmity to believers, remain in a dark state. Christian love teaches us to value our brother's soul, and to dread every thing hurtful to his purity and peace. Where spiritual darkness dwells, in mind, the judgment, and the conscience will be darkened, and will mistake the way to heavenly life. These things demand serious self-examination; and earnest prayer, that God would show us what we are, and whither we are going."

We are to love Christ by obeying Him. And that means loving God Himself with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength, but also loving our neighbor as yourself! Loving our brothers and sisters in Christ is absolutely vital, and also demonstrates that we are in the truth and that we truly are saved and love Christ. If we say we love God and hate our brother for whom Christ died, then we lie and do not practice the truth. May God give us grace to love long and love genuinely from the heart, even those brothers and sisters who have hurt us in some way. May God give us grace to forgive them, and to love them from the heart. The darkness of hating our brothers proves that we have been blinded, and we must be aggressive in repentance and faith in Christ and to turn away from a bitter and hard heart that will lead us away from Christ. Thank you Jesus for loving us while we were yet sinners, while we were enemies, and for dying on the cross for us and saving us! You are awesome!

Christ Community Church

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