1 John – Week 1

1 John – Week 1

Jesus said, Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28) We’re going through the book of 1 John and there’s a theme in the beginning of 1 John about God being the light in a dark world.

God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. 6 So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. 7 But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.

I John 1:5-7

Have you ever lived in darkness? You can call it depression or anxiety or anger, or whatever you want, but sometimes people just get to this place where they just feel hopeless. They’re in darkness, and they can’t get out. The light leads us to community.

If you think you can become who God created you to be without church, you’re wrong. “Oh, I can just read the Bible and pray.” NO. That’s not the gospel. Isolation is selfish. It’s sinful.

Jesus didn’t invite his disciples to follow him so that they could live good lives. He invited the disciples to follow him so that they could become like Christ, to become fishers of men. Ultimately,

The gospel is an invitation to participate.

Can you get into heaven without going to church? Yes, but you cannot become the person that God created you to be without it.

Light extinguishes darkness! Christians, we are people of the light. That’s not just a cool perk of being a Christian. That’s who we are. Get saved and receive life, and with life comes sight, comes light. Remember,

Darkness is not the opposite of light. Darkness is the absence of light.

If you want to remove the darkness of your life, you’re not going to do it by trying to remove the bad things from your life. It’s only going to happen if you fill the space with light. Focus on adding light, not removing darkness.

Light extinguishes darkness.

When God saved Israel from slavery in Egypt, did He give them the law before He saved them or after? He set them free THEN gave them the law and God’s consistent in this. He saves THEN changes our behavior. we say,

Come as you are and become who God created you to be.

All the other religions say change your behavior, THEN you can be saved. Not with Jesus. With Jesus, it’s you come to God first, then God changes you. God helps you become the person He created you to be. This is called,

The Principle of Grace.

It’s all through Scripture. God saves by grace then changes you. So, come as you are.

2 Types of Love:

1. A love that loves because the object is valuable.
2. A love that loves and gives value to an object.

God’s Love makes you worthy.

What does knowing that you are loved like that, do for you? It infuses light into your life, and that light extinguishes the darkness. If you feel like you’re walking in darkness, you need more light in your life. You need to make a decision to follow Jesus. You can check out yes.newlifegillette.com to learn more and begin your journey of adding light to your life.

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