Purifying Hope | 1 John 2:28-3:10 | This Week’s Devotions
This week's devotional walks alongside the sermon Purifying Hope from 1 John 2:28–3:10, tracing the thread John lays down across five days: adoption, hope, purification, sin, and the mission of Christ. Day one sits with the wonder of being called children of God, drawing on Romans 8 and Galatians 4 to explore what that adoption actually means. Day two turns to the groaning anticipation of what we will one day be. Day three lands on the hinge of the whole passage, the hope that purifies. Days four and five work through what sin really is and why the Son of God appeared to destroy it. Each day's Scripture reading and reflection questions are meant to be worked through slowly, ideally alongside this week's sermon, which walks through the full passage in more depth. Take your time with the questions below. They're meant to search, not just inform.
Purifying Hope | 1 John 2:28-3:10 | Walking in the Light
What does it actually look like to belong to God's family? This week's message in the "Walking in the Light" series through 1 John takes up that question directly. John moves from a call to abide in Christ with confidence, not shame, into the striking reality that believers are already called children of God — heirs, not strangers hoping to be let in. From there, the passage turns practical: the hope of seeing Christ face to face is meant to actively purify a life right now, and the evidence of true sonship is a life marked by pursued righteousness and love for one another. The message closes with a question worth sitting with all week: does the hope of Christ's appearing actually change how you're living today?
Abide in Him | 1 John 2:18-27 | This Week’s Devotions
This week's devotional turns to a passage that names something believers have always had to reckon with: opposition to the truth does not only come from outside the church, it can rise up from within it. John's readers had already watched people walk away from the faith, and he doesn't soften what that departure revealed. But he doesn't leave them there either. He reminds them of what they already possess, the anointing of the Spirit and the truth they were taught from the beginning, and calls them to a single, steady response: abide.
Abide in Him | 1 John 2:18-27 | Walking in the Light
This week's message in the "Walking in the Light" series moves into 1 John 2:18-27, a passage that names a hard reality: opposition to the truth about Jesus doesn't only come from outside the church, it can come from within. John calls the false teachers "antichrists," not as a title reserved for some future figure, but as anyone who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Against that backdrop, he reminds believers of what they already have, the anointing of the Holy Spirit and the truth they were taught from the beginning, and calls them to a single response: abide. Stay connected to the truth of the gospel, and it will hold you all the way to the finish.
The Passing Shadow of Worldly Desire | 1 John 2:15–17 | This Week’s Devotions
Each week in our "Walking in the Light" series through 1 John, we pair the Sunday sermon with five days of devotional readings designed to help you sit longer with the passage and carry it into your week.
This week Pastor Mark preached from 1 John 2:15–17, "The Passing Shadow of Worldly Desire." John's warning not to love the world is not a call to retreat from creation or culture. It is a call to see clearly — to recognize that the world and its desires are already passing away, and to orient our lives toward the only pursuit that abides forever.
The five devotions below work through John's three-part diagnosis of worldly desire — the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life — before closing with the eschatological hope of verse 17. Each day includes a Scripture reading, a reflection, and three questions for personal examination.
If you missed Sunday's sermon or would like to listen again before working through the devotions, you can find it here.
The Passing Shadow of Worldly Desire | 1 John 2:15-17 | Walking in the Light
John does not leave his readers guessing about what he means by the things of the world. In 1 John 2:15–17 he names them plainly: the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life. These are not merely the obvious sins. They are the respectable ones — comfort, the itch to acquire, comparison and envy, and the arrogance of self-sufficiency that forgets we are creatures and not gods.
Old Commandment Made New | 1 John 2:7-14 | The Week’s Devotions
In 1 John 2:7–14, the Apostle John delivers what sounds like a contradiction — the commandment he gives is both old and new. In this week's sermon, Old Commandment Made New, we explored how Christ remastered the ancient command to love one another, bringing it into full light, and how that same light exposes the darkness of hatred in our hearts while flooding us with gospel assurance. This week's devotions take you deeper into the passage, tracing the love command from Leviticus through the teaching of Jesus, examining what hatred does to the soul, and pointing you toward the community that love creates.
Old Commandment Made New | 1 John 2:7-14 | Walking in the Light
When the Apostle John tells his readers that the commandment he is writing is not new — and then says it is — he is not contradicting himself. He is pointing us to Christ.
The command to love one another is ancient, rooted in the nature of God himself before the foundation of the world. But in Jesus, that command has been remastered. The same song, heard now in full depth and clarity, illuminated by the life, death, and resurrection of the one who loved us first.
In this sermon from our series Walking in the Light, Pastor Mark Groen traces John's movement through 1 John 2:7–14 — from the old command made new, to the sobering floodlight John turns on the church, to the unexpected pastoral comfort that closes the passage. John does not end with the indictment. He ends with assurance: your sins are forgiven, you know the Father, you have overcome the evil one.
The light exposes. But the light also leads us home.
Wrath Turned Aside | 1 John 2:1-6 | This Week’s Devotions
This week's devotions grow out of our sermon on 1 John 2:1-6, Wrath Turned Aside, where we considered two words at the heart of the gospel: advocate and propitiation. Sin rightly deserves the wrath of God, and the question every person must face is where that wrath will land. Over the next five days, we'll trace that question through Scripture, beginning with the holiness and wrath of God, moving through the advocacy and propitiating work of Christ, and ending with what it means to keep his commands and walk as he walked. Each day includes a short reflection and questions meant to help you sit with the text, not just read past it. Watch the sermon first if you haven't already, then work through these devotions at whatever pace lets the truth settle in.
Wrath Turned Aside | 1 John 2:1-6 | Walking in the Light
Sin rightly deserves the wrath of God. So where does that wrath land? In this sermon from 1 John 2:1-6, we look at two words you may not use often but that are essential to the gospel: advocate and propitiation. John writes as a father in the faith, calling believers to holiness while reminding them that when they fail — and they will — they have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
God is Light | 1 John 1:5-10 | This Week’s Devotions
This week's sermon from 1 John 1:5–10 confronts us with a truth we are tempted to soften: God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. That declaration is not background theology — it is the foundation of everything John says about sin, confession, and forgiveness. The five devotions below are designed to help you sit with that passage through the week, drawing on the broader witness of Scripture to deepen what you heard on Sunday. If you missed the sermon or want to revisit it before you begin, you can watch or listen here.
God is Light | 1 John 1:5-10 | Walking in the Light
What happens when a patient refuses to accept his doctor's diagnosis? He may feel fine. He may insist nothing is wrong. But his denial doesn't change the test results — it only delays treatment.
In 1 John 1:5–10, the Apostle John makes the same case about our spiritual condition. God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. That declaration exposes everything. To claim fellowship with God while walking in darkness is hypocrisy. To say we have no sin is self-deception. And to say we have not sinned is to make God a liar.
Eye-Witness to the Word of Life | 1 John 1:1-4 | This Week’s Devotions
The Sunday sermon is only the beginning. These five daily devotions are designed to help you sit with 1 John 1:1–4 through the week, turning the truth of John's eyewitness testimony over in your mind and applying it to your daily life. We encourage you to start by watching or listening to the full sermon, then work through one devotion each day.
Eye-Witness to the Word of Life | 1 John 1:1-4 | Walking in the Light
The Apostle John wastes no time. Rather than opening with a traditional greeting, he goes straight to his foundation: that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and touched with our hands — the Word of Life.