Love One Another August 7

Think About It … What is the most important quality you look for in a restaurant? What about the most important quality you look for in Christian relationships? Obviously love is an important quality in a Christian relationship  Today we look at how to daily demonstrate love to one another

Listen for how love is to be shown. John 13:34-35 (NIV) "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. [35] By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

Christ Commanded Love Jesus previously confirmed this statement of the teacher of the law, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' So what was new about this command (look at preceding verses)? There were so many things the disciples needed to know. Why emphasize love? What does it mean for you to love people as Jesus has loved them?

Christ Commanded Love How is love a sign that someone is a disciple of Christ? Witnessing to nonbelievers without loving believers is pointless. Why? Why is it hard to show Jesus’ love to different kinds of individuals?

Christ Commanded Love How will people we encounter daily know we are Jesus’ followers? How has God shown His love for you? How can we pass that on to others around us?

Listen for a definition or description of love. 1 John 3:10b (NIV) Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother. … [12] Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous. … [16] This is how we know what love is:

Listen for a definition or description of love. Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. [17] If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? [18] Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

Actions Demonstrate Love According to this passage, how is someone who is not a child of God identified? How then, can we know that we are children of God? How was Cain a counter example of love? So according to this passage, how do we know what love is?

Actions Demonstrate Love What characterizes a person who does not have the love of God in him/her? How should Christians love? Why is it easier to love with words rather than actions?

Listen for the key word in this passage that shows God’s nature 1 John 4:7-13 (NIV) Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. [8] Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. [9] This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. [10] This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as

Listen for the key word in this passage that shows God’s nature an atoning sacrifice for our sins. [11] Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. [12] No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. [13] We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. … [19] We love because he first loved us.

God Enables Love What were the readers of 1 John encouraged to do? What is the relationship between loving and knowing God? What is the difference between saying “God loves” and “God is love”? God Loves God Is Love

God Enables Love What is love? What is it not? How is love an action verb?

Application God calls us to love one another This week look for ways to demonstrate self-giving love like Jesus showed Be aware of how the world looks at our attitudes and actions towards one another

Application God showed His love towards us by sending Jesus to die on the cross. Be sensitive to situations where you can give of yourself to those in need around you Show love by your actions … not just in what you say

Application God is the source of and power to love Ask God to demonstrate especially the Fruit of the Spirit, love, in your life this week Tell Him you cannot love some of the folk around you in your own strength Then watch Him at work in your life

Love One Another August 7