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'm excited to be

walking through First John as we are on our year-long study of the New Testament. As always, I'm

using the Behold Studies from the Daily Grace Code, and you can find all that info in the show notes.

It's no wonder that John gets the nickname, the Apostle of Love.

In today and tomorrow's chapters, John will talk a lot about love, how God has given us such great love that we are called children of God, and how that immense love propels us to love others.

John begins where we left off yesterday in chapter 2 verse 29. John declared that we have been born of God and today he continues

sharing how our adoption in the family of God proves his love for us. It's a love unfathomable

to us, too grand for our comprehension, so much so that Paul is writing to the Christians and says that Christ's love surpasses knowledge.

Only God would bestow such kindness on undeserving people. Only God would love enough to bring sinners into saving grace.

Only God would love enough to sacrifice His only son to bring sinners into saving grace. Only God would love enough to sacrifice his only son

to bring redemption into the world. This love that God has for us is a current that moves not only

John's writing, but the obedience of a Christian. Let's remember a few key truths about God's love

and what it accomplishes in us before we continue.

Before we come to know Christ, we are slaves to our sin and children of lawlessness.

Our spiritual lives are dead. We once obeyed Satan rather than God, but God who is rich in mercy

takes what was dead and brings new life. God's love pursues his own, and through Jesus,

he saves us. It's his supernatural work that gives a once spiritually dead person new life in his

spirit. Ultimately, this person will receive eternal life with him. But while they wait, they are being

sanctified. Sanctification is a lifelong

...