How would you finish this sentence: “A Christian is someone who…” ...believes in Jesus? ...goes to church? ...reads the Bible and prays? ...serves the poor? ...votes Liberal? ...listens to WDCX? ...doesn’t listen to WDCX? ...thanks Jesus when they receive an Oscar or score a touchdown? If you were trying to figure out whether someone was a follower of Jesus, what would you look for? When God looks at YOU, what is he looking for as spiritual evidence of faith? Join us for the next 7 weeks as we explore the New Testament book of 1 John to discover what God considers “Proof of Life”.

March 30, 2008 – The Vitals (1 John 1:1-2:11)
There’s no way around it. As much as it exists to provide spiritual clarity, the Bible can sometimes be a confusing book, a complicated collection of spiritual writings about our life with God. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by all the individual teachings in the Scriptures and lose sight of the essential Teaching of Jesus. When it comes right down to it, what is at the very core of Jesus’ message? What is the “good news” that he brought to the world?

April 6, 2008 – Priorities (1 John 2:12-17)
We live in world of enticement, a world selling happiness at every turn. On average, each year we’re bombarded with more than a million advertisements: TV and radio commercials; billboard, magazine and Internet ads; product placement, on buses and at bus stops, on tabletops, coasters and in bathroom stalls-3000 ads a day, one message: buy this and be whole and happy. Why do we get so sucked in by ads? How does the message of our culture mesh with Jesus’ message?

April 13, 2008 – Devotion (1 John 2:18-27)
Our culture loves fads: hula hoops, sea monkeys, pez dispensers; disco, electronica, grunge; mood rings, bell bottoms, Ocean Pacific. “Hang ten, dude” and “gag me with a spoon.” It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as it’s “IT”. Unfortunately, there are people who treat their spirituality like a fad, living with spiritual ADD, always searching for the latest and the greatest, always chasing the latest craze. Is that really what Jesus had in mind when he invited people to follow him?

April 20, 2008 – Character (1 John 2:28-3:10)
You’ve seen it as you drive around the city, on more than one occasion, on more than one car, that smug, arrogant, condescending bumper sticker: Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven. It’s meant to share the Good News of Jesus, but it sounds more like a perfect excuse for tolerating hypocrisy. “I don’t have to be perfect. I’m forgiven.” What if that wasn’t exactly the message Jesus came to earth to share? What if Jesus’ dream for his Church is closer to excellence than excuses?

April 27, 2008 – Spotlight
Many of us are addicted to activity. We brag about how we perform under pressure and measure our worth by our productivity, by what we do. This can even be true in our life with God. It can be easy for us at times to act more like his servants than his children. But that’s not what God wants from us. God’s heart beats for relationship. So, join us for a morning to just “be” with God, to just “be” with each other and to celebrate, in singing, his choice to just “be” with us.

May 4, 2008 – Generosity (1 John 3:11-24)
Reflect on the history of the church, the crusades, inquisitions, witch hunts, slave trade, colonialism, bombed out abortion clinics, and “God Hates Fags” protest signs. Sometimes it seems utterly remarkable that, to Jesus, one of the most important commands is to love others as much as we love ourselves. No wonder Gandhi once lamented that Christians are so very unlike their Christ. How right is it really to call these people “Christians”? How much does “love” really matter to God?

May 11, 2008 – Discernment (1 John 4:1-6)
At a cultural level, there seems to be greater interest in Jesus (and more books about him) than there has been in a long time. Whether it’s Anne Rice’s “Christ, the Lord”, Deepak Chopra’s “The Third Jesus”, Tom Harpur’s “The Pagan Christ” or Eckhart Tolle’s “A New Earth” (or attend the online class with Oprah Winfrey), they all discuss and dissect Jesus. But are they discussing and dissecting truth? How do we know? How do we discern the truth in a world of ideas about Jesus?

May 18, 2008 – Community (1 John 4:7-5:4a)
You hear people say it all the time. It has become one of the fundamental doctrines of the Western world, believed to be the sole reason that pluralism, tolerance and multiculturalism are even possible: “My faith is a private affair, something that’s just between God and me.” Even within the church, there are those who would wish to live as though the community of faith is utterly irrelevant to their life of faith. But is that biblically true? Is it possible to have, not just a personal faith, but an individual faith?

May 25, 2008 – Assurance (1 John 5:4b-21)
We’ve said it on Sundays over and over. The Bible says it about as clearly as anyone could imagine. You can’t earn your way into heaven with good deeds. Yet, the entire book of 1 John is devoted to the idea that, among true followers of Jesus, there are certain “proofs of life,” necessary evidences of faith, preconditions to calling yourself a Christian. So, what’s the bottom line? How do we know that we are “true” followers of Jesus? What give us the confidence that we have the life that comes from him?