OUTLINES FOR JOHN'S BOOKS

Following are some outlines that I read in the book "Traveling through the First Epistle of John" by J. William Kanoy, that I believe it will be a blessing to understand the books as a whole.

OUTLINE #1
Our Salvation---Gospel of John-Past
Our Sanctification---Epistle of John-Present
Our Glorification---Revelation of John-Future

OUTLINE #2
John's Gospel---Christ is Prophet
John's Epistle---Christ is Priest
John's Revelation---Christ is King

OUTLINE #3
Gospel of John---written that men may be converted
Epistle of John---written that men may be confirmed
Revelation of John---written that men may be comforted

PRAY FOR OUR SOLDIERS!!!!

I watched the flag pass by one day; it fluttered in the breeze. A young Marine saluted it, and then he stood at ease..
I looked at him in uniform So young, so tall, so proud, With hair cut square and eyes alert He'd stand out in any crowd.
I thought how many men like him Had fallen through the years. How many died on foreign soil. How many mothers' tears? How many pilots' planes shot down? How many died at sea How many foxholes were soldiers' graves? No, freedom isn't free.
I heard the sound of Taps one night, When everything was still, I listened to the bugler play And felt a sudden chill.
I wondered just how many times That Taps had meant "Amen," When a flag! had draped a coffin. Of a brother or a friend.
I thought of all the children, Of the mothers and the wives, Of fathers, sons and husbands With interrupted lives. I thought about a graveyard At the bottom of the sea Of unmarked graves in Arlington . No, freedom isn't free.

Enjoy Your Freedom & God Bless Our Troops!!

Of all the gifts you could give a US Soldier, Prayer is the very best one.

A MAN AFTER MINE OWN HEART--HUMILITY

Kind David is described in Scripture as a "man after God's own heart" because he purposed to be faithful to God and he confessed his sin to God when he failed his Lord.
Now, we are going to see another characteristic of a person "after God's own heart"--humility. In II Samuel 7:18-22, we see how Kind David, unlike Saul, continually lived with a reverence and respect to the Lord, and such a fear of God led King David to possess a proper perspective of himself before an Almighty God.

"Then went king David in, and sat before the LORD, and he said, Who am I, O Lord GOD? and what is my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto? And this
was yet a small thing in thy sight, O Lord GOD; but thou hast spoken also of thy
servant's house for a great while to come. And is this the manner of man,
O Lord GOD? And what can David say more unto thee? for thou, Lord GOD,
knowest thy servant. For thy word's sake, and according to thine own
heart, hast thou done all these great things, to make thy servant know
them. Wherefore thou are great, O LORD God: for there is none like
thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard
with our ears."

This text gives us a clear picture of David's genuinely humble heart. To humble ourselves is tho have the right perspective of an Almighty God, who is Holy, Righteous, Merciful, Gracious, Just, Creator of heaven and earth, etc. What is your perspective of God? Does it motivate you to truly worship and serve Him?

James 4:6, 10 "But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up."
I Peter 5:6 "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God; that he may exalt you in due time."

When you humble yourselve before God, you are also showing a submission to God's timing and will for your life. We can see this in the life of King David in I Samuel 24:1-13. King David, possessed the opportunity to exalt himself above Saul, yet he continued to view life from God's perspective and, therefore, submitted himself to God's timing. He refused to murder the king whom God had appointed to rule His people. Are you willing to submit to God's will for your life?

The opposite side of this coin is PRIDE, which leads to destruction. Proverbs 19:3 "The foolishness of man perverteth his way: and his heart fretteth against the Lord."
Proverbs 27:1-2 "Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips."

On which side of the coin are you in?

A MAN AFTER MINE OWN HEART--CONFESSION

When we read in the Word of God about King David, we find that he was a human with a sin nature, the flesh. David failed God at times and actually demonstrated a lack of faithfulness to the Lord. Like David, we, too, still possess a sin nature, the flesh. And, like David, we will fail God at times. So, what should be our response in this situation? If we want to be a person "after God's own heart," we will need to confess our sins and seek restoration to a proper fellowship with Almighty God, our Heavenly Father--just like David did.
In Psalm 51, we have David's prayer of confession to God following his adulterous relationship with Bathsheba. His heartfelt sorrow for sin is evident in these verses. If we are to think as God thinks and view life from His perspective as we should, then we will call sin what it is and deal with it as it arises in our hearts.
David was a man after God's own heart not because he was sinless but because he dealt with his sin. It truly bothered him to sin against God and to fail his LORD so miserably. When confronted by Nathan, the prophet of God, David could have denied his sin, rationalized his sin or confessed his sin. He chose the latter. Saul, on the other hand, attempted to rationalize his sin when confronted by Samuel (I Samuel 15:20-21). Which path are you following David's or Saul's when it comes to sin? Do you even blush at sin? Ezra 9:6 "And said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens."
David's confession allowed him to be used by God once again (v. 13). Yes! we will sin and fail our Lord at times, but immediate recognition and confession is vital if we are to be restored to proper fellowship and be considered a person "after God's own heart." Remember these verses:
I John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
Proverbs 28:13 "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso convesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy."

A MAN AFTER MINE OWN HEART--LOYALTY & OBEDIENCE

God chose David to be the next king of Israel because David was a man "after God's own heart" (I Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22). Saul, on the other hand, had been rejected from being king because "thou hast not kept that which the LORD commanded thee." (I Samuel 13:14).
His heart was not in tune with God's heart because he did not view life from God's perspective. So what does it take to be a person after God's own heart, like David? Did David sin less than Saul? Was David inherently a better person than Saul? NO! David was a sinful human being like any one of us. Yet David had the following traits that we ought to follow if we also want to be a man "after God's own heart."
To be a person "after God's own hear" is to be a faithful child of God--to be totally committed and dedicated to complete loyalty and obedience to the Lord.

II Samuel 22:22-25 "For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God. For all his judgments were before me: and as for his statutes, I did not depart from them. I was also upright before him, and have kept myself from mine iniquity. Therefore the LORD hath recompensed me according to my righteouness; according to my cleanness in his eye sight."

Psalm 119:33-36 "Teach me, O LORD, the way of thy statutes; and I shall keep it unto the end. Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart. Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; for therein do I delight. Incline my heart unto they testimonies, and not to covetousness."

As you can see, King David, was a man that "kept the ways of the LORD" "he did not depart from them" "keep it to the end" and "observe it with my whole heart." These characteristics showed his loyalty and obedience to the Lord. Do you have these characteristics in your life? Are you seeking for these characteristics in your own life? Are you seeking for a "well done" from our Lord Jesus Christ?

To be faithful means to understand that obedience is more important than "results" and that diligence is required in the Christian life. We must continually "walk" and "grow" as new creatures in Christ.

Colossians 1:9-10 "For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God."

II Peter 3:18 "But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen."

Romans 8:1, 4 "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Galatians 5:16 "This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh."

We can conclude that sporadic, infrequent, or random faith in the Lord and His Word, has no place in the life of a faithful child of God that is seeking "after God's own heart."