Trust Eyewitnesses and Live by Faith Now

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We’ve finished working our way through the Books of John and Romans—a huge thank you to the many friends who have accompanied me on this journey. We studied the eyewitness accounts of John and the powerful testimony of Paul.

I want to keep taking the words of John and plant them firmly in my heart. He described himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved, and he wanted everyone to KNOW Jesus as he knew Him. That’s what I want. I want to KNOW and LOVE Jesus as John knew and loved Jesus.

John saw Jesus’ miracles, heard Jesus teach, and stood at the foot of the cross. He was entrusted with the care of Jesus’ mother and heard Him cry, “It is finished,” as He gave up His Spirit. (John 19:30)

In A.D. 85 – 90, he wrote the Gospel truth about Jesus and letters to several Gentile congregations. Jerusalem had been destroyed in A.D. 70, and the believers had been scattered throughout the empire.

As the church grew, the “enemy” used false teachers to incite confusion and doubt among a new generation of believers. Prompting them to ask … is Jesus really God? Did He really rise from the dead? Can He really save you and me?

John proclaimed that the answer to those questions is an absolute YES! So he wrote his eyewitness testimony, and closed the Gospel with the following…

The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs … But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in Him you will have life by the power of His name.

John 20:30–31

John proclaimed the TRUTH! Jesus is God! He did rise from the dead, “I saw Him.” He is the Savior who gave His life for you and me!

He shared what he had seen and heard. He testified to the Son of God who humbled Himself to reveal God to us and give us eternal life. Like the Gospel, John’s letter proclaims that Jesus is the Word of Life…

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 hands. He is the Word of life. This One who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen Him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that He is the One who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then He was revealed to us. We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us.

1 John 1:1–3a

You and I live by faith. But our faith is not just wishful thinking; it is built on facts from eyewitnesses. And archaeological finds have affirmed every Book of the Bible and helped us understand its historical accuracy down to the smallest details.

I could tell you countless facts about the things Rev said and did. I spent 55 years with him. I knew and loved him.

John knew and loved Jesus. And he wanted everyone to know and love Him, too. We can trust that the Spirit inspired John to write his eyewitness accounts so that we might have facts on which to base our faith.

Let’s pray…

A Prayer Thanking God for Eyewitnesses
and the Gift of Faith

Heavenly Father, thank you for giving us the blessing of Your Word. You graciously made it possible for us to read factual accounts of individuals You talked with in the Old Testament and Jesus walked with in the New.

Because You are love, You have always wanted people to KNOW You, not just know about You. Through the Spirit, You inspired 40 people to write Your Word to humanity. Their narratives are detailed and personal.

I love that John wrote that the disciples witnessed so much more than was written. So many things that convinced them that Jesus was, is, and always will be Your Son and our Savior—the Messiah. I love that he called Him the Word of Life made flesh, who reveals You to all of us.

Thank you for miraculously preserving original manuscripts and allowing us to have documents like the Dead Sea Scrolls to affirm their historical details.

I love You, Lord. Please prompt me to SEEK You daily because I want to KNOW You. I believe that the more my faith grows, the more I will LOVE You. I want to live each day with faith, by the power of Your Spirit.

Please strengthen us to encourage one another to KNOW, TRUST, and LOVE our Lord and Savior, Jesus. In whose name I pray. Amen.

I love this quote from Corrie Ten Boom…

“Faith is like radar that sees through the fog-the reality of things at a distance that the human eye cannot see.”

Would you hold on to a lie through persecution and threat of death?

The eyewitnesses to Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection did. All of the disciples fled when Jesus was arrested. But after seeing the risen Savior, everyone except John, who died in isolation, and Judas, who committed suicide, died a martyr because of their faith.

We can trust the eyewitnesses who proclaimed that Jesus is the Word of Life who gives eternal life to all who have faith (KNOW, LOVE, and TRUST) in Him.

So search the Scripture – it is the trustworthy message of God’s saving grace through Jesus. He is and always will be the Word of Life.

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