Left to ourselves, we tend to put ourselves first and do as little as possible for others. But as Troy explains, we all know, deep down, that there’s a problem with that way of living, and we want to be better than that. What if we thought about others more than ourselves? What if we showed grace and kindness to the people who disagreed with us? What if we did as much as possible for them? What if we said, essentially, “No, Please, You Go First.”

In today's standalone message, Troy invites us to remember where it all began, not only in our physical lives, but also in our journeys of faith. We can refresh ourselves and find the strength to go on when we recall how Jesus paid our penalty for us, how all of our sins have been forgiven, and how that leads us to forgive other people.

To conclude our message series through 1 John, Troy reminds us of the fact that John wrote down what he did so that we who believe in Jesus can know we have eternal life. We have been born again and just as there is evidence of a physical birth, there is also evidence of a spiritual birth.

In this week's message from our 1 John series, Troy's shares John's focus in chapter 4, that we who are loved by God are to go and love others. Since we are so loved by God, we can share that love with other people. Specifically, we are to demonstrate an active goodwill, in which we make the decision to serve others and to work for their good, no matter what.

In this week's message from our 1 John series, Troy discusses what ultimately demonstrates that we belong to Jesus: We love God and we love people. Followers of Jesus are clearly identified not by their size, or shape, or color, but by the practice of genuine love. In some cases, this may involve “dying” for our brothers and sisters; more often, it’s probably “living” for them through serving.