Life Is Here

“Though you cannot add more days to your life, you can add more life to your days.”

How do you add more life to your days?

How do you move from existing to truly living?

The Book of 1 John:

• Author: John the Disciple [Gospel of John; 1, 2, 3 John & Revelation]
• Audience: House Churches in and around Ephesus
• Date: 85-95AD
• Occasion for Writing: Address false teachings that threatened the church.
• Major Themes: Life, Truth, Love

LIFE IS HERE

• Return to the _______________ of Jesus.

That which was from the beginning,
which we have heard,
which we have seen with our eyes,
which we have looked at and
our hands have touched— this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it,
and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.

1 John 1:1-2

• Jesus is _______________.
• Jesus is a _______________ _______________.
• Jesus is the _______________.
• Jesus is _______________.

The Loss of Wonder:

Familiarity: We _______________ the extraordinary to the ordinary

Visual Lethargy: the more you see something, the less you tend to see.

Unfamiliarity: We _______________ the extraordinary for the ordinary.

"Secularism, materialism, and the intrusive presence of things have put out the light in our souls and turned us into a generation of zombies. We cover our deep ignorance with words, but we are ashamed to wonder, we are afraid to whisper "mystery"."

- A.W. Tozer

• You are created for _______________.

We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

1 John 1:3

Fellowship [koinonia]: to share something in common; share a common life, communion, partnership.

Jesus is the _______________ of our _______________.

• You are created for _______________.

We write this to make our joy complete.

1 John 1:4

Joy is the _______________ of Christianity.

“You and I were created for joy, and if we miss it, we miss the reason for our existence! Moreover, the reason Jesus Christ lived and died on earth was to restore us to the joy we have lost…His Spirit comes to us with the power to believe that joy is our birthright because the Lord has made this day for us.”

- Lewis Smedes

“If you want to get warm you must stand near the fire: if you want to be wet you must get into the water. If you want joy, power, peace, eternal life, you must get close to, or even into, the thing that has them. They are not a sort of prize which God could, if He chose, just hand out to anyone.”

- C.S. Lewis