Proof of Life: Victory Lap

1 John 5:1-12

Connect:

• Share how you have seen God in the Highs and Lows of your week.

Prayer:

Pray that God would lead your discussion time and bring fresh insight, conviction, and hope through your time together.

Review:

This series, Proof of Life, is looking at how we KNOW that we are saved, born of the Spirit, alive in Christ… and what that looks like in our daily walk! This week we looked at the victory we have in Jesus…

The Grand Tour of the message: Thinking back on what you heard this Sunday…

o What did you learn about God?

o What did you learn about people?

o What did you learn about yourself?

o What do you want to commit to putting into practice?

Reflection:

Personal Experience:

• Talk about a time that you won a hard fought [something]. Maybe it was an athletic prize or a scholarship or a job promotion or an award for excellence. Something that you REALLY worked for in the midst of a lot of competition and struggle… but you kept going, you finished it, and you won.

  Group Discussion:

• Read 1 John 5:1-3

  • In John 5:1 it talks about faith being what makes us “born of God”. What does that mean? (2 Cor 5:17, John 1:12-14, John 3:16-18)

  • Read Hebrews 12:1-2. Why does it make a difference to “fix our eyes on Jesus” in this way? Unpack what John means by calling Jesus the “Author” and “Perfecter” of our faith.

  • In v3, John connects loving God with keeping His commandments. Why does he do that— I thought we were all under grace! How does our love for God and our obedience connect the way John uses it here? (Deut 6:5-6, Deut 11:1, Matt 11:29-30, John 15:10, 1 John 2:5)

• Read 1 John 5:4-5

  • I believe Jesus is the Son of God… but I still feel like the world is A LOT BIGGER than I am. What does it mean to “overcome the world”? (Rom 8:35-39, John 16:33, Rev 12:11, James 4:7)

  • John talks about victory here. How does faith give us victory? (Eph 2:8, Eph 6:16, Heb 11:1-13, 32-34)

  Read 1 John 5:6-12

  • What are the “water”, “Blood”, “Spirit” terms referring to here? (Matt 3:13-17, Matt 27:33-46, John 14:15-21, John 15:26, Acts 1:8, Romans 5:5, 8:26)

  • How are these 3 in agreement— agreement about what?

  • v11-12 make it clear what our testimony is: God has given us eternal life and that life is in His Son. What does it mean that “this life is in His Son”? (Rom 8:5-11, 2 Cor 4:4-13, Gal 2:20)

  • How does this passage help us with the conversation about “Well, don’t all religions lead to God?”

Application: 

John said, This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. How are we doing with that?

Prayer:

Spend some time praying together that God will make this testimony (of the life of Jesus in us by His Spirit) shine brightly for those around us to see!

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