~Open in prayer~
Icebreaker
• Describe your dream house
• What’s your favorite ride at a theme park?
• What’s your current cellphone wallpaper?
MESSAGE REVIEW
God is easy to love, and if you ever meet Jesus, He is the most likable Man in the world. God loves, gives, heals, and protects. But Jesus commanded us to love our neighbors as ourselves….wait, what? That’s exactly what He commanded us to do. Love God and love people. The greatest thing you can have is love, and the only thing God said that would never fail is LOVE. Everything you do in life flows out of your relationship with God. It all starts with that one connection to our Heavenly Father, and if we keep things right vertically, things will remain right horizontally in our life and relationships. Four components Pastor Ron shared about love: 1. Love dwells with knowledge 2. Love cares and anticipates a need 3. Love doesn’t let offense change status and 4. Love restores what sin took away. Before we talk about loving God and loving each other, we need to know what love is, what love entails, and the kind of love you love God with.
LET’S TALK ABOUT IT!
•Read 1 Peter 3:7. In this scripture, Peter is speaking about a relationship of a husband and wife. He states for the husband to dwell with his wife with understanding or “knowledge.” He says you learn about them as you live with them. The same with God, you learn about the love and character of God. You can learn to love God because of all He has done for you and all He has shown you through His love. Love has the component of knowledge running with it. Have you ever studied about God’s love in the Bible? Do you understand what having knowledge of God means?
•Read 1 Peter 5:7. The bible says that we can cast all our cares upon Him because He cares for us. Love has a component of caring. The scripture proves that God anticipated that His children would have a need. God wants us to live anxiety-free. He says He will give us rest. God already has the solution for His children when they have a need. Do you make a habit of “casting your cares” upon the Lord? Can you receive that God cares for you and already made a way to give you peace in ANY situation?
•Read John 21:1-17 In this passage, Jesus appeared to the disciples after He was raised from the dead. He had a conversation with Peter and asked him 3 times if Peter loved him. He said yes, each time, and Jesus said, then feed my sheep then called Peter back to the ministry. He called the disciples “friends” even though they turned on Him before the crucifixion. Jesus showed them the example that love does not let an offense or sin change the status of a relationship. Can you see the example in this story of agape love (Jesus’ love for Peter) and phileo love (Peter’s love for Jesus)? Do you see how agape love will not hold offense or let sin change the status?
PRAYER FOCUS & REQUESTS
Ask your members if they have any prayer requests or praise reports. Read and mediate on scripture about God’s love and share with the group next week. Look up the four types of love: agape, philia, eros and storge.