Love Defined | Week 2 · Rewind

Love Defined | Week 2 · Rewind

Pastor Bill Bush · Sep 5, 2026

Big Idea

Real love lives in the light.

Real love is not warm feelings or religious performance, it is found only in Jesus, who is life itself. When we live in real fellowship with God and others, and live honestly instead of hiding, His light heals us and gives us the joy He died to give us.

Key points

1 John 1:1-10 (NLT)
Real love lives in the light.
HOW TO WALK IN THE LIGHT:
LIVE LIFE IN JESUS (1 John 1:1-2)
Love isn’t just something God said. Love is Someone God sent.
Application:
Start with Jesus. Identify where you look for life. Choose presence before performance.
LIVE IN REAL FELLOWSHIP (1 John 1:3-7)
Jesus invites us into fellowship, not performance.
Application:
Practice Jesus’ presence. Stop performing and managing your image. Choose to be known. Make honesty safe. Respond to the Light.
LIVE HONESTLY (1 John 1:8-10)
It's not about never sinning, it is about choosing not to hide.
Application:
Confess.
WHAT IS CONFESSION?
Homologeō: acknowledge, agree, “say the same thing.”
Confession is agreeing with God about what He already knows.
God calls it pride - I stop calling it confidence.
God calls it lust - I stop calling it harmless.
God calls it greed - I stop calling it ambition.
God calls it bitterness - I stop defending it.
How do I walk through confession?
Name it - Stop using vague language. Call it what God calls it.
Agree with God about it - No excuses, comparisons, explanations, or “but.”
Turn from it - Confession includes a desire to change direction.
Receive Christ’s forgiveness - Stop trying to pay for what Jesus already paid for.
Take the next obedient step - Tell someone, seek accountability, apologize, make restitution, remove access, or change the pattern.
Psalms 32:1-11 (NLT)
1
1LIVE LIFE IN JESUS (1 John 1:1-2)
Bill opens 1 John 1:1-2 to show John correcting false teachers who denied Jesus was truly a person. John insists Jesus is not a resource we use to get what we really want but life itself, so the question is not just do you believe in Jesus but do you believe Him enough to trust Him with the thing you are holding onto instead of Him.
2
2LIVE IN REAL FELLOWSHIP (1 John 1:3-7)
From 1 John 1:3-4 Bill shows fellowship (koinonia) is both vertical with God and horizontal with other believers, comparing it to the Fellowship of the Ring where people who don't even like each other choose to love, sacrifice, and stay on mission together. He argues joy, not mere happiness, is found on the other side of that real, honest community rather than in hiding.
3
3LIVE HONESTLY (1 John 1:8-10)
Working through 1 John 1:8-10, Bill explains that claiming to have no sin makes us liars and makes God a liar, but confession simply means agreeing with God about what sin actually is rather than downplaying it as not that bad or something we can handle. He walks through what confession looks like practically, using David's affair with Bathsheba and murder of Uriah in Psalm 32 as the picture of a man forgiven not because he was perfect but because he kept coming back to confession and repentance.

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Application

Bill's charge is to stop managing your darkness and start walking in the light.

Check where you're finding life
Ask whether Jesus is genuinely where you find life or whether you're using Him as a resource to get something else you're unwilling to trust Him with.
Get into a real circle, not just a row
Find a small group or community where you can be known, accepted, supported, and developed rather than sitting anonymously in a crowd.
Stop hiding, start naming sin honestly
Instead of downplaying sin as not that bad or something you can handle, agree with God and call it what He calls it.
Practice real confession
Name the sin, agree with God about it, turn from it, and accept the forgiveness already given rather than carrying guilt or doing penance.
Use communion as a moment for confession
Bring the specific thing you need to name and turn from to the table this week, remembering what Christ's body and blood already accomplished.

Take it into your week

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7-day devotional

A personal reading plan from this message — scripture, reflection, and prayer for each day.

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Day 1

John doesn't open his letter with an argument; he opens it with his hands. "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." This is Someone he knew, not a theory he adopted. Bill pointed out that John was correcting teachers who denied Jesus was truly a person, and the correction still lands on us. It is easy to keep Jesus at the level of belief and never let Him be life itself. We can treat Him as a resource, a way to get calm, or a better marriage, or a cleaner conscience, while quietly holding on to the very thing we won't hand over. But John says Jesus is not a means to life; He is the life. So the question this week isn't only whether you believe in Jesus. It's whether you believe Him enough to trust Him with the thing you're gripping instead of Him. That's a tender place to start. You don't have to fix it today. Just be honest about where you actually go looking for life, and let that honesty be the doorway back to Him.

For reflection

Is Jesus genuinely where you find life, or are you using Him as a resource to get something else you're unwilling to trust Him with?

Pray

Ask Jesus to show you where you're going for life instead of to Him.

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Love Defined

Week 2 · 7 messages

Where these passages are preached

1 John 1 1 John 4 John 3 Psalm 32

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Biblical Community Communion Confession God's Love Identity in Christ

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