Do Not Love The World

The apostle John said:

Do not love the world or anything in the world.

If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man,

The lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does--

Comes not from the Father but from the world.

The world and its desires pass away,

But the man who does the will of God lives forever. (1 John 2:15-17)

The apostle James said:

You adulterous people,

Don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God?

Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world 

Becomes an enemy of God.

Or do you think Scripture says without reason

That the Spirit He caused to live in us tends toward envy,

But he gives us more grace?

That is why Scripture says:

“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (James4:4-6)

Christ Jesus said:

Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, 

And whoever loses his life will preserve it. (Luke 17:33)

Whoever finds his life will lose it, 

And whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. (Matthew 10:39)

If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself

And take up his cross and follow me.

For whoever wants to save his life will lose it,

But whoever loses his life for me will find it.

What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, 

Yet forfeits his soul?

Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels,

And then he will reward each person according to what he has done.

(Matthew 16:24-27)

"If you were of the world, the world would love its own.

Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world,

Therefore the world hates you." (John 15:19)

I have given them your word and the world has hated them,

For they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.

My prayer is not that you take them out of the world

But that you protect them from the evil one. (John 17:14-15)

The apostle Peter said:

"Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world,

To abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.

Live such good lives among the pagans

That, though they accuse you of doing wrong,

They may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us."

(1 Peter 2:11-12)

The apostle Paul said:

"But our citizenship is in heaven. 

And we eagerly await a Savior from there, 

The Lord Jesus Christ" (Philippians 3:20)

And do not be conformed to this world,

But be transformed by the renewing of your mind,

In order to prove by you what is that good and pleasing 

And perfect will of God. (Romans 12:2)

For this world in its present form is passing away. (1 Corinthians 7:31)

The World Belongs To God

...The world is mine and all that is in it. (Psalm 50:12)

God So Loved The World That He Gave His Son

For God so love the world that he gave his one and only Son,

That whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,

But to save the world through him.

Whoever believes in him is not condemned,

But whoever does not believe stands condemned already

Because he has not believed in the name 

Of God's one and only Son.

This is the verdict: Light has come into the world,

But men loved darkness instead of light

Because their deeds were evil.

Everyone who does evil hates the light,

And will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.

But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light,

So that it may be seen plainly

That what he has done has been done through God. (John 3:16-21)

Christ Jesus Is The Light Of The World

I am the light of the world.

Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness,

But will have the light of life. (John 8:12)

Christians Are To Be The Light Of The World

Christians with Christ living in them are the light of the world

Because the “light,” Christ shines through them.

You are the light of the world.

A city on a hill cannot be hidden.

Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.

Instead they put it on its stand, 

And it gives light to everyone in the house.

In the same way, let your light shine before men,

That they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

(Matthew 5:14-16)

The World Hates Christ Jesus And Christians

If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.

If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own.

As it is you do not belong to the world,

but I have chosen you out of the world.

That is why the world hates you.

Remember the words I spoke to you: 

'No servant is greater than his master.'

If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.

If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.

They will treat you this way because of my name,

For they do not know the One who sent me.

If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin.

Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin.

He who hates me hates my Father as well.

If I had not done among them what no one else did,

they would not be guilty of sin.

But now they have seen these miracles,

And yet they have hated both me and my Father.

But this is to fulfill what is written in the Law:

'They hated me without reason.' (John 15:18-25)

In This World You Will Have Trouble

In this world you will have trouble.

But take heart I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)

Christ Jesus Prays For Himself

After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:

Father, the time has come.

Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.

For you granted him authority over all people

That he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.

Now this is Eternal LIFE: that they may KNOW you, 

The only true God,

And Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

I have brought you glory on earth

By completing the work you gave me to do.

And now, Father, glorify me in your presence

With the glory I had with you before the world began. (John 17:1-5)

Christ Jesus Prays For His Own

I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world.

They were yours; you gave them to me 

And they have obeyed your word.

Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you.

For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them.

They knew with certainty that I came from you,

And they believed that you sent me.

I pray for them.

I am not praying for the world,

But for those you have given me, for they are yours.

All I have is yours, and all you have is mine.

And glory has come to me through them.

I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world,

And I am coming to you.

Father protect them by the power of your name—

The name you gave me--

So that they may be one as we are one.

While I was with them,

I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me.

None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction

So that Scripture would be fulfilled.

I am coming to you now, 

But I say these things while I am still in the world,

So that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.

I have given them your word and the world has hated them,

For they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.

My prayer is not that you take them out of the world,

But that you protect them from the evil one.

They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.

Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.

For them I sanctify my self, that they too may be truly sanctified. 

(John 17:6-26)

Jesus Prays For All Future Christians

My prayer is not for them alone.

I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,

That all of them may be ONE, 

Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.

May they also be in us 

So that the world may believe that you have sent me.

I have given them the glory that you gave me,

that they may be ONE as we are ONE.

I in them and you in me.

May they be brought to complete unity

To let the world know that you sent me

And have love them even as you have loved me.

Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am,

And to see my glory, 

The glory you have given me because you loved me

Before the creation of the world.

Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you,

And they know that you have sent me.

I have made you known to them,

And will continue to make you known

In order that the love you have for me may be in them

And that I myself may be in them. (John 17:6-26)

God's Judgment Of The World
The Lord reigns forever; he has established his throne for judgment.

He will judge the world in righteousness; 

He will govern the peoples with justice.

Say among the nations, 'The Lord reigns.'

The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved;

He will judge the peoples with equity.

Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;

Let the sea resound, and all that is in it;

Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them.

Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy;

They will sing before the Lord, for he comes,

He comes to judge the earth.

He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his truth.

(Psalm 96:10-13)

See, the day of the Lord is coming—

A cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger--

To make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it.

The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light.

The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light.

I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins.

I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty

And will humble the pride of the ruthless.

I will make man scarcer than pure gold, 

More rate than the gold of Ophir.

Therefore I will make the heavens tremble;

And the earth will shake from its place 

At the wrath of the Lord Almighty,

In the day of his burning anger.

Like hunted antelope, like sheep without a shepherd

Each will return to his own people,

Each will flee to his native land.

Whoever is captured will be thrust through;

All who are caught will fall by the sword.

Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes;

Their houses will be looted and their wives ravished. (Isaiah 13:9-16)

The great day of the Lord is near—near and coming quickly.

Listen! The cry on the day of the Lord will be bitter,

The shouting of the warrior there.

That day will be a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish,

A day of trouble and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom,

A day of clouds and blackness, a day of trumpet and battle cry

Against the fortified cities and against the corner towers.

I will bring distress on the people and they will walk like blind men,

Because they have sinned against the Lord.

Their blood will be poured out like dust and their entrails like filth.

Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them

On the day of the Lord's wrath.

In the fire of his jealousy the whole world will be consumed,

For he will make a sudden end of all who live in the earth.

(Zephaniah 1:14-18)