1 John 1

Parenting teens is one of the best, hardest, most growing things I've ever done. Melissa Troyer is back living in her crazy world with grace and reminding us that raising teenagers can be embraced as a grace from God despite being hard if it calls us to look at our brokenness and weak place.

"This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. So we are lying if we say we..."

Come on, now, 'fess up to the truth — it's liberating! Russ Lawson reminds us that to err is human, that we sin, we mess up, we falter, we are wrong, we make mistakes, but God is in the cleansing and forgiving business and can take care of it if we will admit it and ask for forgiveness.

"Dear Child of the Glorious and Gracious Father, As John neared the end of his physical life, he wrote three short letters to help churches facing all..."

"We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own..."

Our LORD God Almighty is the master at making the profound feel the simple. Phil Ware reminds us that Communion is a powerful example of Jesus taking something profound and making it simple enough for us to understand and do together.

"Dear Beloved, I came to your world to be God among you and die as the atoning sacrifice for your sins. However, My ministry for you did not end with...."

"This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet..."

"If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins..."

"So if we say we have fellowship with God, but we continue living in darkness, we are liars and do not follow the truth. But if we live in the light,....."

"If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to [Jesus], he is faithful and just..."

What's true about the NCAA Basketball Tourney and life? Phi Ware reminds us that while the one and done principle is true in much of life, Jesus changed it for us in regard to sin.

On this Christmas Day as we bring this year's journey to an end, the question you need to ask is as important to answer as it is simple to ask! James Nored and Phil Ware challenge us to faith in the eternal God who chose to reveal himself by becoming human and living in our world

"Dear Disciple, John was a masterful writer. He used a simple vocabulary to share nuances of truth and depths of theological insight. His use of such...."

Who do you blame for your sin? Rather than blame others for our sin or finding excuses to rationalize away our guilt, let's be honest with ourselves and with God!

How important is fellowship to you? Fellowship is so crucial and even more so in places that are hostile to faith: we must take advantage of our freedom to have fellowship.

Irritated with that little mistake you made? Trying to be a perfectionist is not only hard, but it is wrong for you.

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. Phil Ware shares some great online resources for images for Holy Week and Resurrection Sunday.

As we bring this year's journey to an end, the question you need to ask is as important to answer as it is simple to ask! James Nored and Phil Ware challenge us to faith in the eternal God who chose to reveal himself by becoming human and living in our world

So how perfect are you? Russ Lawson reminds us that we are imperfect, that we make mistakes, and that God forgives those mistakes and makes us perfect in his sight if we will try to live for him.

"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin."

"If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin."

"If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin."

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."

"If we confess our sins, [God] is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."

"If we [freely] admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just [true to His own nature and promises], and will forgive our..."

"When we were united by faith to Christ, we were brought into such complete fellowship with him, that we were made one with him, and his interests and...."

""Cleanseth," says the text-not "shall cleanse." There are multitudes who think that as a dying hope they may look forward to pardon. Oh! how..."

Inspirational illustration of 1 John 1:7 -- If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

parody image of 1 John 1:7 -- Blood of the Lamb.

Parody image based on 1 John 1:9 -- If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

We must never forget God's most consistent message to each of us! Brian McCutchen reminds us that God's love is redeeming -- it forgives, cleanses, makes whole, and buys us back from our messes and lifts us from our burdens.

What is the dumbest thing you've ever done? Russ Lawson shares a humorous story about eating off his dog's plate, getting the flu, and also dealing with his own stupid actions in his spiritual life and in his relationships.

Why go public with this? Rubel Shelly uses Josh Hamilton's public confession about a slip in alcohol use to remind us of our need to be truthful about the addictions that enslave us.

Who would want to invite this mess home? If we don't wall pornography off at the source in our lives, then we end up just inviting it home.

He was nitroglycerin; if you bumped him the wrong way, he blew up. Max Lucado reminds of what is necessary when we have failed publicly and why it is necessary.

Can we really get do-overs? God offers us something better than a do-over, mulligan, and second chance; he offers us forgiveness and cleansing.

How do you put a shattered life back together? Phil Ware talks about a broken horse figurine and a shattered pink lamp and how God not only forgives, but also purifies us.

How do you put a shattered life back together? Phil Ware talks about a broken horse statue and a shattered pink lamp and how God not only forgives but also purifies us and makes us whole.

"Dear Beloved, As God's child, you need to know that some truth is very basic and very simple. You also need to realize that the evil one, whom John....."

Without the personal touch, full healing never comes. Phil Ware continues his series on Jesus' healing the man with Leprosy in Mark 1:35-45 and focuses in this post on Jesus' touch.

Without the personal touch, full healing never comes. Phil Ware continues his series on Jesus' healing the man with Leprosy in Mark 1:35-45 and focuses in this post on Jesus' touch.

Is this a blessing or a curse? Rubel Shelly talks about the woman who can't forget and reminds us of the blessing of God's forgiveness.

Is it me, or has God changed his opinion on grace? Brian McCutchen talks about the night he was baptized and the fear he felt and his desire to know he was going to heaven and now he is assured of those things because he understands God's grace.

Where do you unload the baggage and guilt of our mistakes? Russ Lawson talks about unloading the blame and guilt of our sin by admitting it and trusting God to handle it, completely.

Come on, now, let's just admit to the truth! Rubel Shelly confronts our tendency to make excuses for our sins, mistakes, and errors and then try to use softer words to make them not seem so bad.

How can God be blind to our sin? God is blind to our sin because the blood of Jesus continually purifies us when we are walking in the light.

Sometimes we just need to be reminded that we matter. Brian McCutchen reminds us that we are known, loved and valued by God.

How can this happen? Phil Ware takes a weird note in his inbox and uses Johnny Cash and his comebacks to remind us that Jesus gives us the ultimate comeback, he forgives, purifies, and heals.

Have you touched someone in the name of Jesus, lately? Phil Ware talks about making God touchable and how we share the touch of Jesus with others.

Wouldn't life be better if we could have a fresh start after making a mess of things? Phil Ware continues his series on Resurrection 2.0 focusing on Jesus' loving confrontation of Peter about his arrogance and failure and then restoring him back to ministry.

Because he knew the true and living God, the heart behind the Scriptures, he could recognize the forger, the fraud — Satan — who tried to distort and misuse truth and Scripture. James Nored and Phil Ware discuss the temptations and trials of Jesus and why they are important to us and what they have to say to us as people who are part of God's story.

What about Christians who sin? The reality of Christian life is not that we do not sin. It is seen in how we react to our sin.

Hypocrisy is often cited as a reason not to follow Jesus. It is just not true. Hypocrites say one thing while intending to do another. That is not what Christians do.

Don't you wish you could erase life's mistakes? We’ve gotten better and better at correcting mistakes on our computer. God, through His son Jesus, let’s us correct life’s mistakes in an even more amazing way.

What do you do when you've been wronged? Forgiveness is not easy, but it is God's way.

Will turning the page on the calendar change your life? God can make our lives new, giving us a fresh start. He wipes out past mistakes, letting us begin again.

How do you spend your time? Jesus left us here to help others find life and know that resurrection is coming: we are in the resurrection business.

Blues got you down? We all get a little blue or depressed; here are 10 suggestions to help us.

Which color would you be? Alan Smith tries to remind us that our goodness comes from Jesus and not from ourselves.

How do you deal with those feelings of remorse? It doesn't matter what you have done. Your sins can be washed away. You can start over. God will cleanse you and give you a new life.

What's shining in that darkness? Rubel Shelly talks about how important it is for us to be light for the dark places of our world.

Jesus provided us the few simple words we need to return us to that place of righteousness in the eyes of our Father: “Forgive us our debts.” Phil Ware, with Chad Higgins, reminds us of the power of the simple words 'Forgive us our debts' and give us a daily practice to emphasize the power of these words.