Authentic Living

Speaker: Pastor Aaron Perry

We continued our teaching series "The Word: The Stories in The Story," in which we are on a journey looking at the overarching story of scripture by focusing on some stories within this big story. You see, the Bible is not merely an ancient book of rules. It is a library of different stories telling one unified story of love and redemption. It is foundational, formational, and functional.

This week, we focused on the book of 1 John. The apostle John wrote this book to encourage Christians to be authentic and keep walking and living in the light and in love. Below, you will find a few key takeaways from the book and the message!

- Authentic living starts with honesty and openness before God and others… Living in the light means confessing our sins, rejecting hypocrisy, and choosing integrity over hiddenness.

- Authentic love is an action, not a feeling. It doesn’t mean we agree with everyone, but it does mean we treat them with Christlike compassion.

- The church can be authentic by loving people unconditionally, even when the world does not.

- "When you’re confident in your identity, you don’t have to pretend or perform. You’re free to just be.”