Advancing Encouragement By:
Bishop James Jr. Hairston

1 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.

Our relationship with God is the whole idea about this passage of scripture. Our relationship with God is based on who God is, how He relates to us and what He has done for us through Christ Jesus. This relationship is through the Father and the Son Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior whom John is talking about in this epistle. He began talking about Jesus Christ the Word of Life that came from the Father have manifested Himself unto us so we can have fellowship with Him, both the Father and the Son, verses 1-3. John was talking to a community of Christians that did not believe in the incarnate Christ with both deity and humanity. He was 100% man and 100% God in the flesh and for that reason He qualified to go to the cross to die on our behalf where His blood was shed so that we can have forgiveness of sins and eternal life. This is where as a believer we have the right to fellowship with God walking in the light as He is in the light. In addition, the body of Christ fellowships with one another through the shed blood of Jesus Christ where we are cleansed washed and made whole. The people of God are not fellowshipping because they have a connection by human nature or by the standards of the world but by fellowshipping with the Father and Jesus Christ washed and cleansed by His blood as children of God, we in-turn have fellowship with one another, verses 6, 7. This concept of fellowship is God, man and the church is all one in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior that brings us to the point it is all because God has forgiven us through the shed blood of His Son. Hence, no one can say they do not need forgiveness or they are without sin. The idea here is that we do not take pleasure in sin but we do commit momentary acts of sin. Therefore, when we do, 1John: 2:1: My little children, these things write I unto you, that you sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Jesus Christ is our advocate meaning He is our Lawyer in the courtroom and He is interceding for us right now pleading our case through His shed blood so that we will always’ be forgiven every time we go before God. Moreover, my friend do not be confused by John’s writing in chapter 3:9: Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remains’ in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. John is speaking in two different tenses in the Greek for in the other 2 passages of scripture mentioned is sin committed momentarily and in 3:9 it is a continual act of sin or habitual sin without any compunction of conscience. This is why we need to have or to remain in fellowship with God the Father and The Son Jesus Christ so that our conscience will be permeated by His shed blood where we will always remain aware of what we are doing. In-Turn my friend knowing that you are forgiven in-spite of yourself and what you have done in the past, today, is your day to be excited about your relationship with God through the shed blood of Jesus Christ that you will always remain forgiven when you confess your sins to Him in Jesus name…

James Jr. Hairston