Big Idea: Love is the root system that allows you to reach toward Heaven.

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

I. Love is greatest

1 Corinthians 13:1-3

If I speak human or angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give away all my possessions, and if I give over my body in order to boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.

 II. Love has grit

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not arrogant, is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not irritable, and does not keep a record of wrongs. Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

III. Love lasts 

1 Corinthians 13:8-13

Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put aside childish things. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, as I am fully known. Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love—but the greatest of these is love.

Next Steps: 

• Believe: I accept the love of Jesus for the first time today.
• Become: I will ask God to help me love like him this week. 
• Be Sent: I will show God’s love to someone in need this week.

Discussion Questions: 

1. Besides the cross, what is the greatest act of love you’ve ever witnessed? 
2. How does biblical love differ from other forms of love, such as romantic or friendship love?
3. Does love separate people from the animals?  Explain your answer.
4. What would you say to someone who says they are “falling out of love”?
5. What aspect of love in 1 Corinthians 13 do you need to work on this week?
6. How will you let love guide the way you use your spiritual gifts this week?
7. Pray for the Holy Spirit to help you accept and show God’s love this week.