Corey Brecht

Husband to Leah, father of 7, small business owner, struggling sound cloud artist 😅

[Corey Brecht @CoreyBrecht]

@veracevia Working through this currently. Glad for the encouragement!

[Corey Brecht @CoreyBrecht]

@PastorTrey05 The ESV-only crowd about to be big mad 😂

[Corey Brecht @CoreyBrecht]

@sewistwrites The Rapture Exposed by Barbara Rossing, it’s been a few years, can’t remember exactly

[Corey Brecht @CoreyBrecht]

@veracevia @ronhenzel Someone once suggested that in the afterlife we will experience time geometrically as opposed to linearly. Would our limited understanding of geometric time and our default mode of thinking linearly inhibit the way we conceive God’s behavior and actions?

[Corey Brecht @CoreyBrecht]

@kaceyismagic Masterful

https://t.co/QkbNB7qa1s

[A. W. Holt @veracevia]

1 John 4:16

"So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them."

One of the hardest things to do is to believe the love that God has for us. His love for us is so outrageous and extreme that it is hard to believe that it is true. He sent his only Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins? He forgave us of our entire sin debt, even though we killed his Son, and in the most horrible way imaginable? He wants all of us to be first-born sons in his family, even though he knows and sees the horrendous evils of which man is capable? He continues to love me, even as I struggle to love him despite his many gifts to me?

Yes, it is hard to believe God's love, not because he is unloving, but because he is good and we are evil. The love of God must appear as a fantasy, as nothing more than wishful thinking, to the race of fallen men. But it is true. We can believe the love of God because the events of the Gospel - the death and resurrection of the Son of God - have already happened. God's love is not contingent upon our obedience; it is revealed through the obedience of Jesus Christ. We can do nothing to increase or decrease God's love, to earn it or lose it, for it is already a fact of life.

[Corey Brecht @CoreyBrecht]

@veracevia I’ve often pondered that the love of God must be the most compelling force in the universe

[A. W. Holt @veracevia]

1 John 4:11

"Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another."

The new command that Christ gave us, "Love one another," is what he himself modeled to the full. God does not demand more from us than from himself. Jesus Christ has already fulfilled every command that the Father has laid upon his people.

The elites of the earth press heavy burdens upon the masses, yet they have no sense of obligation to follow their own dictates. Those who rule us believe that the rules do not apply to themselves. Such hypocrisy cannot be found in Christ.

Since Jesus laid down his life for us, we also ought to lay down our lives for one another. Self-sacrifice can take many forms, most of which are small and ordinary. In a marriage, self-sacrifice can be as simple as thoughtfulness: "I want my wife to be happy, so on our next date I'm going to take her to her favorite place and genuinely enjoy it with her, even if it's not my favorite."

Sometimes, though, it is more consequential, like setting aside a dream so that you can fulfill your responsibilities to those who depend upon you. Outside of the family, agape love might look like helping a neighbor carry a heavy emotional or financial burden. It could mean going on a missions trip instead of a vacation. Whatever form love takes in us, let it be motivated by the knowledge that God first loved us.

[Corey Brecht @CoreyBrecht]

@PicturesFoIder This is important. I might even say it MEANS something.

[Corey Brecht @CoreyBrecht]

If you haven’t read One Word that Will Change Your Life by Jon Gordon, I implore you to do so. My one word for 2024 is Abide. Thank you, @veracevia for this great exposition.

[A. W. Holt @veracevia]

1 John 3:24

"The one who keeps God's commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us."

The final nail in the coffin of Gnosticism is the vital link between obeying God's commands and abiding in him. Abiding in God is not merely a state of mind or a peculiarly spiritual truth; it is something you do with your whole being: mind, body, soul, and spirit.

Your actions reveal where you're from, that is, with whom and in whom you are abiding. What you do proves who you obey. The Gnostics were not obeying God in their hedonistic revelry; they were obeying their own flesh. They did not have advanced spiritual knowledge; they were as ignorant as the common idol-worshipping barbarian.

But we are no different. From a young age we are taught to follow our hearts, but our hearts will never lead us closer to God, only deeper into ourselves. We are told to trust our feelings and to be skeptical toward the commands of God, but this is nothing new. It is how fools have lived for millennia.

It is an act of sheer madness, not sophisticated rebellion, to reject God's ways and to indulge the desires of the flesh and the dictates of the heart. We know that we do not live in God and do not have his Spirit when we refuse to obey his commands.

[A. W. Holt @veracevia]

1 John 3:18

"Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action."

Of course we must have loving speech; our words are important. The Bible is filled with admonitions about the words we say. What John is warning us against is the sin of hypocrisy - saying all the right things but doing none of them.

Words don't put food on the tables of the hungry, or keep the impoverished warm at night. God did not merely say that he loved the world, he sent his Son into the world in order to save it. He did something big so that our situation could improve.

Jesus is our example in life and in love. He taught us many things, expressing his love for us in words. But he also laid down his life for us. He submitted himself to the most painful and humiliating of deaths so that we could be forgiven of our sins and enter into God's family.

Though we cannot do that exact thing for others, we can do many things that display this same love. The physical manifestation of agape love is vital in this world, which is consumed by hatred and isolation. Agape love is the truth, and we all need to see the truth in action, as well as live it ourselves.

[Corey Brecht @CoreyBrecht]

@andrewhebert86 @veracevia

[Corey Brecht @CoreyBrecht]

Amen!

[A. W. Holt @veracevia]

1 John 2:8

"Yet I am writing you a new commandment that is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining."

John was filled with hope when he looked at the world, not because the world itself was good, but because he saw that the darkness, which covered the world, was fading away. He did not have to wait for the light to start shining, for in Christ and his Church the light of truth was already shining. The victory of light over darkness, good over evil, God over the forces of chaos and death, was assured and had already begun.

How many times has the darkness fought back against the light? How often has the total victory of darkness seemed assured? In every culture and every generation the darkness seeks to snuff out the light, but the light is undefeated.

Jesus conquered death once, and he conquers it anew in every generation. Evil is the greatest loser, even as it is the most resilient fighter, in all of history. The darkness which wars against the light today is no different than all of the vailed darknesses which have come before it, and its fate shall be the same as theirs.

[Corey Brecht @CoreyBrecht]

@matttebbe Christ-follower (I also like the term “follower of the way��� as I’ve heard some say)

[Corey Brecht @CoreyBrecht]

@veracevia @drewdyck What do you mean? Can you say that again like I’m 8?

[Corey Brecht @CoreyBrecht]

@KimIversenShow Barbra R Rossing, author of The Rapture Exposed, Michael J Gorman, author of Reading Revelation Responsibly. They might give you the opposite of what you’re looking for, though.

[Corey Brecht @CoreyBrecht]

Amen! 🙏

[Robert W Malone, MD @RWMaloneMD]

A friend made this sticker for me - kind of cool.

[Corey Brecht @CoreyBrecht]

That’s because most people who skipped vaccines are still alive 😂

[Aaron Kheriaty @AaronKheriatyMD]

They think you are stupid.