Welcome to a year in the Bible with Daily Grace.

My name is Kristen and my name is Katie.

And we want to spend a few minutes a day with you walking through the New Testament, one chapter at a time.

This year we will fix our gaze upon Christ so that we may know Him, not only with our minds, but with our hearts.

Together we will learn that who Jesus is changes everything.

Welcome back to a year in the Bible with Daily Grace. My name is Kristen, and I am so excited to walk

through First John with you in our year-long study of the New Testament. Today, we are studying

1 John 1. As always, I'm using the Behold study guides from the Daily Grace Co,

and you can find all that info in the show notes. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a

foretaste of glory divine, air of salvation, purchase of God, born of his spirit, washed in his blood. Do those lyrics sound

familiar to you? They are beautiful words penned by Fannie Crosby in 1873. Words that call us to rest

in the assurance we have in Christ. These words prompt us to treasure that Jesus is indeed ours.

But when doubts rise within our hearts, how are we sure that assurance,

assurance that their faith is indeed genuine?

Before we get to John's encouragement, let's cover some helpful context.

First, who is John? As you may have guessed,

most scholars agree that 1 John was written by John, the apostle and disciple of Jesus,

the same author of both the Gospel of John and the Book of Revelation. In fact, this letter

and the Gospel of John have a lot in common. For example, both the

Gospel of John and First John begin by describing the incarnation or how Jesus is the word

who has existed from the beginning and became flesh. Both also hit on similar themes like light,

darkness, love, eternal life, and truth.

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