Sunday Connect Lesson for July 30, 2023

WALKING JESUS' WAY
John wrote 1 John around the late 80s or early 90s AD.

Study the Word:  In the apostle John's letters, we discover authoritative truth about Jesus Christ.  As one who walked with the Savior and witnessed firsthand His teaching and example.  John's inspired words carry special weight in proclaiming and protecting the gospel's message.

Key Truth: Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (1 John 1:1-4).  Through Him, and Him only, can we have a relationship with God and gain eternal life.

Key Truth:  Walking Jesus' way requires holiness and humility (1 John 1:5-10).  If we practice the truth, we cannot walk in the darkness of sin.  But if we confess our sins, we can be cleansed and forgiven.

Key Truth: Walking Jesus' way requires ongoing dependence on Him (1 John 2:1-6).  We are confident only in the provision of our Advocate, Jesus Christ the Righteous One.  He paid the price for our sins.  Our obedience to Him is evidence of our forgiveness.

Family Connection: Continue the discussion after church!
How does it affect our relationship with the Lord when we sin?
What can we do to make things right?
Why is it important to keep your thoughts, words, and actions focused on holy things?

1 John 4:7-19  (HCSB)
 Knowing God through Love 7 Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent His One and Only Son into the world so that we might live through Him. 10 Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God remains in us and His love is perfected in us. 13 This is how we know that we remain in Him and He in us: He has given assurance to us from His Spirit. 14 And we have seen and we testify that the Father has sent His Son as the world’s Savior. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God—God remains in him and he in God. 16 And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him. 17 In this, love is perfected with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, for we are as He is in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. So the one who fears has not reached perfection in love.19 We love because He first loved us.