Category: The Beginning

1 John 1:1 (NIV)
¹ 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.

“As we see especially in the first verse, Jesus doesn’t have ‘anything better to do’ than this, than to be near to you and to me. I don’t know why, but this is how he loves us. But why is it that I have better things to do than to do this for others? Why is it we have better things to do than to do this for one another? May we have nothing better to do, as we are encountering the Lord in this way. What others should feel from us is there is nothing else we’d rather do than to be with, to be near, to express the love of God to them. It makes our day, month, year to just be with that person, to express God’s love, to truly know them, to care for them, to provide for them. Ultimately it’s not about us, it’s because this is how the Lord expresses his love to us, but also through us to others.” [P. Brian’s message]

Prayer: Father, fill us with your Holy Spirit, so we can love others in the same way you have loved us. Anoint us to proclaim the Word of life by being near to others the way you have done for us. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s continue to respond as we sing “Anointing” by Jesus Culture (click here).

-KW

 

1 John 1:3-4 (NIV)
³ 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. ^.4 We write this to make our joy complete.

“Joy…is the gigantic secret of the Christian…” [G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, 160]

“And what is the secret of fullness of joy, ‘the complete and perfect felicity which we obtain from the Gospel’ (Calvin)? It is in the fellowship which the proclamation creates; for if the immediate purpose of the proclamation is the establishment of fellowship, the ultimate purpose is the completion of joy. This is the divine order – angelia [God’s messenger], koinonia [fellowship], chara [joy].” [Stott, John, The Letters of John, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries Kindle, 69-70]

Prayer: Father, we rejoice in your love for us, your welcome to us today. We trust your word that our joy will be complete as we experience you and invite others to experience you together with us. So we ask, use us, in our missional groups and on our campuses, to proclaim the Word of life to others so they will also know your love and salvation with us.  In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s worship to “House of the Lord” by Phil Wickham (click here).

-KW

1 John 1:3 (NIV)
³ 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.

“The purpose of John’s letter is fellowship, ‘so that you also may have fellowship with us’ (v. 3a)…Fellowship is not just the coincidence of a shared experience of God, where we compare our private spiritual walks; it is living and experiencing the Father and the Son together as believers. Christian fellowship is triangular: my life in fellowship with Christ, your life in fellowship with Christ, and my life in fellowship with yours.” [Burge, Gary M., Letters of John, NIVAC, 54-56]

May we receive hope and anticipation and gratitude for relationships with one another where we are “experiencing the Father and Son together as believers” – new life happening, healing happening, heavenly worship happening, transformation happening, love and faith that is being expressed and received, that God is doing and will do among us.

Prayer: Father, thank you that this shocking new beginning through Jesus’ resurrection includes deeply fulfilling relationships, with you and with others. We ask for even more of the living and experiencing you together as your churches. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s continue to welcome in God’s work among us as we sing “Fullness” by Elevation Worship (click here).

-KW

 

 

1 John 1:1 (NIV)
¹ 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…

“That which was from the beginning … pause and think about that for a moment … which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have gazed at … pause again: your own eyes? You didn’t just glimpse it, you gazed at it? Yes, says John, and what’s more our hands have handled … you touched it, this Life? You touched him? You handled him? Yes, repeats John: we heard, saw, and touched this from-the-beginning Life. We knew him.” [Tom Wright, Early Christian Letters for Everyone, 130]

“How can I experience this closest relationship with God? God, through the Holy Spirit and what Jesus has done, is the one who makes himself utterly accessible to you, so you can firsthand see and hear and touch, not physically but just as tangibly and concretely today. And church, this is what we are being welcomed into today – to encounter our risen Lord firsthand, to be invited into this closest relationship with God, but then also this closest relationship with one another.” [P. Brian’s message]

Prayer: Lord Jesus, we are filled with awe that you, the one from the beginning, the eternal Life, want to be known by us and are making yourself available to us today. Draw us deeper into this firsthand, tangible fellowship with you. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s continue to behold his great love as we sing “Behold (Then Sings My Soul)” by Hillsong Worship (click here).

-KW

 

Let’s proclaim aloud the following together:

1 John 1:1-4 (NIV)
¹ 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.  ² 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. ³ 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. ⁴ We write this to make our joy complete.

John 1:1-4, 14 (NIV)
¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.
¹⁴ The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Prayer: Lord, we proclaim you are the Word of life, from the beginning, and your appearing has started a new beginning for us – thank you! As I behold you today, let new beginnings of life spring up in me. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s worship Jesus as we sing “King Jesus” by Matt Redman (click here).

-KW