Doubt creeps into our hearts in all sorts of different ways.  Sometimes we mess up and doubt the reality or extent of God's forgiveness.  Sometimes we feel alone and doubt the reality of our relationship with God.  But God meets us in the moments of doubt with a gentle confidence, upholding us and reminding us (again) that we are his, and nothing will ever change that.

Application Questions:

When are the moments you are most tempted to doubt God's forgiveness?

How does it change things to know that "God is greater than our heart"?

When are the moments you are most tempted to doubt the reality of your new identity?

How can you take time this week to identify (maybe with others) the evidence of the Spirit working in your life?

How can you enjoy the sweet intimacy and confident prayer that is yours through the assurance of your identity and forgiveness?

John has taught us that being a Christian means being adopted into the family of God. God’s family has a family dynamic: righteousness and love. This week John begins a long conversation on loving one another as Christians. He deepens our understanding of love and then shows us how to move towards it ourselves.

Application Questions:

1. Do you struggle most to love other with your actions, attitude, or attention? 

2. Have you ever found yourself doing loving things for selfish reasons? 

3. What is your reaction to hearing that you have to lose your life in loving others to really experience life? 

4. How can Jesus laying down his life for you move you to love others the same way?

John speaks strongly about righteousness and being a child of God. In that language, we find a call to holy living and a motivation that is different than any other philosophy. 

Application Questions:

1. Are there ways you don’t want God’s parental input in your life? What do you normally do when you feel that way? 

2. Do you regularly think of yourself as a child of God, apart from your performance? How might your life change if you did? 

3. Is God asking you, Father to child, to practice righteousness in a particular area of your life right now?

In the midst of a rich passage, John gives us the different elements that we need for real, deep, meaningful change and growth. They range from the new birth to eternal hope, but all center on the person of Christ and the transforming love God has for his children. 

Application Questions:

1. If you want to change or grow, how do you normally go about trying? 

2. Do you feel like you have a relationship with God, or a relationship with ideas about God? What’s the difference?

3. What are some practical ways you can relocate your hope on seeing God in eternity? How might that reshape your life now?

When we are insecure about our faith, how do we rest assure in the Father’s arm? John reminds us to find our home in the Father’s love as we abide in Him and see His love. God sees us as His beloved children even with our faults, and John also encourages us to live lives that reflect our Father.

Application Questions:

1. Do you view remembering the sabbath as an optional command? if so why? How does having a sabbath as a rhythm in life help us abide (rest) in the Lord? What are ways you implement sabbaths in your life, if taking a sabbath is not a rhythm in your life, what could a sabbath look like for you?
2. “Impure Gold is still Gold,” How does the fact that God see us as His beloved even with our faults change the way you view yourself?
3. What are some practical ways we can purify ourselves as He is pure?

Today is a day of remembrance in multiple ways. Our country gathers every year on this day to remember an event that took place in Philadelphia, determining the trajectory of our country. The church also gathers every week on this day to remember the event that took place in Jerusalem that changed the course of human history. Today we gather to remember that more significant historical moment and in our passage today John helps us to see why regularly looking back and remembering is such an important spiritual discipline for our souls.

Application Questions:

1. Do you tend to live in fear of false truths, or do you tend to live taking truth for granted, not being careful about what you're meditating on or taking in?

2. What are the practical ways that help you remember gospel truth throughout your week (other people, time with God, corporate worship, etc.)?

3. How does the fact that God is abiding in you change how you view your current challenges and struggles?

4. How can you relate more directly and intimately with God this week, remembering his personal presence?

With all the division and controversy in the world, how do we think about truth? John makes it clear that spiritual truth doesn’t adjust to fit our preferences or desires. While we shouldn’t be overconfident in ourselves, the truth about God is secure and stable. This means it shouldn’t rattle us when people reject Jesus, and we can hold onto the truth about Jesus without shame. Most of all, John makes the case that the hard truth is where we can put all our hope and security.

Application Questions:

1. Are you ever rattled in your faith when you see people reject Jesus for something they think is “better”? How do John’s reminders about the time we live in and the way we know truth help?

2. What about Jesus’ identity is so important that John sees it as a test for whether or not we have a relationship with God?

3. What would it look like for you to let the truth about Jesus “abide in you”?

The world around us is filled with distractions and temptations. It draws us and seduces us. How do we continue to live in the world without being lured into its traps? How do we even know what its traps are? And how do we navigate life in the midst of the world in confidence instead of fear? John gives us an exhortation and a vision for the path forward in our passage today.Application Questions:

Application Questions:

1. What are the aspects of the "system that takes the place of God" in this world that you find most compelling?

2. What things in this world do you covet that demonstrate your residual love for the world?

3. What things in this world do you take boastful (even internally) pride in that demonstrate your residual love for the world?

4. How does remembering the temporary nature of the things of this world help you to turn away from them? Or does it?

5. How does the love of God expel the love for the world in your heart?

Having heard the first section of the letter of first John, it is normal for any of us to feel somehow discouraged. Especially when we read sentences like “…whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness…” John’s sentences are loaded with razor sharp truth that could shake the foundation of even a mature believer. John now takes time to assure his church family that they are true believers who can have a tangible relationship with God the father and His Son Jesus Christ. And out of this fellowship with God flows out a deep abiding joy that is available to all believers regardless of their spiritual maturity.

Application Questions:

1. How does it bring you joy knowing that your salvation does not depend on you?

2. First describe your relationship with a good friend and then describe your relationship with Jesus.

3. How does knowing that Jesus empowers you to overcome sin bring you joy?

4. How does Jesus coming in human form help you better understand God the father?

What does it mean to be a single multi-lingual church?  When we take the time to look back at the very first iteration of the local church we see a group of brothers and sisters that bear a striking resemblance to who we are today, and who God is continually calling us to become.

Application Questions

1. How are you tempted to neglect living out your faith as a part of a "gathered" community?

2. What are specific examples of times you have sacrificed for the needs of brothers and sisters in our church family?  If you can't think of any, how might God be calling you to a more intentionally generous lifestyle?

3. What can you do this summer to intentionally devote yourself to the Word of God along with others in our local church community?

4. Who around you needs the hope of the gospel right now?  What do you need to do to prioritize sharing that hope with them?