Light From Heaven

Message

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His Name Shall Be...
...Light From Heaven
1 John 1:1-5

Introduction: Jesus is the light that has come from Heaven. John wastes no time in telling us that Jesus is the authentic Son of God and that He has come to make Himself known to us. He demonstrates this by telling us that he experienced Him personally and that we can also experience Him.

Jesus Has Always Existed (1 John 1:1a) (John 1:1-2)

Jesus Can Be Experienced
Through a Life of Flesh (1 John 1:1b)
Through the Word of Life (1 John 1:1c) (John 1:14)
Through Eternal Life (1 John 1:2) (1 John 5:13)
Through Fellowship (1 John 1:3)
--companionship
--partnership

Jesus Can Be Enjoyed (1 John 1:4) (John 15:11)

Jesus Can Be Encountered (1 John 1:5)

As Light
--light is constant
--light produces life
--light reveals truth & deceit
--light cannot become defiled
--light represents what is good & pure

Not Darkness
--darkness is the absence of light
--darkness produces death
--darkness cannot drive away light
--darkness represents what is bad & evil

Application: The fact that we can have fellowship with Jesus—the Light from Heaven and not have to live in darkness of this world is the greatest news ever known.

Christmas Devotion

Many of us are familiar with the joy of the Christmas story: the joyful responses of the wise men, the shepherds, Elizabeth, Mary, and the angels. But beneath the surface of this joy is a truly worshipful celebration of God’s faithful character, knowing that He will always fulfill His promises.

After Mary receives the news that she will conceive the Messiah, Luke 1:46-55 tells us that she responds by praising God. She glorifies God because He has been faithful. Mary knows that God promised to send a Savior, and now this promise is coming true. She knows this is a wonderful reason to praise God and worship Him. 

The next time we see rejoicing over Jesus’ birth is the shepherds’ encounter with the angels. The shepherds are told the wonderful news that the Messiah had been born and how they could find him. Luke 2:20 says that after the shepherds saw Jesus, they went back to the fields “glorifying and praising God for all they had seen and heard, just as they had been told.” Even though the shepherds had a totally different encounter with Jesus than Mary did, they had the very same response! They also praised God because they found Jesus exactly as the angels told them, they knew that God was trustworthy and worthy of praise. They rejoiced just like Mary because God is faithful and He keeps His promises.

The Christmas story is a wonderful reminder for us to remember that God is faithful and He keeps His promises. He promised long long long ago to send Jesus, and He was faithful to that promise. Mary and the shepherds realized that and glorified God! May our heart’s response to the Christmas story be the same as Mary and the shepherds: glorifying and worshipping God for His faithfulness and His trustworthiness, because He is where the joy is!