Notes of Faith October 19, 2026
Identifying the World
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
John 3:16
The word world can have at least three meanings in the New Testament. It can refer to planet Earth and all it contains. It can refer to the people in the world. And it can refer to the world system—the underlying principles and assumptions that stand in opposition to God and His purposes and programs.
When we are told not to love the world (1 John 2:15), it obviously does not mean that we are not to love God’s creation or the human beings made in His image. Rather, we are not to love the system of values and priorities that manifest in ungodly actions and behaviors. Pride, greed, selfish ambition, immorality, spiritual idolatry, anger, violence, and the like are all characteristics of the world we are not to love. God redeemed us out of that world system, and we are no longer to have affection for it (1 Corinthians 6:9-11; Colossians 1:13-14).
Thank God today that He has introduced you to a Kingdom that you can love and desire to be part of!
Identification with the world and its needs is one thing; imitation of the world and its foolishness is quite another.
Warren Wiersbe
We need to love the world (all people created in the image of God, and the created world of trees, waters, mountains, valleys, etc), and not love the world system that seeks to separate us from God!
There is much foolishness in the world system today. Simple understandings of the mind are thrown out the window to believe and espouse untruth dogmatically as the only way to live. We must separate ourselves, drawn out by God to live righteously and holy before Him, love Him, worship Him, serve Him. Believe in Jesus Christ and the work He completed doing the will of His Father, and be saved from the wrath of God for your sin. Eternal life is a long time. You will spend it with God or separated from God! Think long and hard about this. It really is an easy choice. Seek God while He may be found by you or you will suffer the consequences of your choice forever!
1 Cor 6:9-11
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
Pastor Dale