Verses Used:

• 1 John 4:7-21
• Romans 5:8

Takeaways:

Who is God?

• Without God, we would have no knowledge or experience of love - at all.
• Love is a decision to will for the good of someone else.

4 Main Types of Love we see in the Bible:

• Storge - Familial Love (Connected)
• Eros - Romantic Love (Physical)
• Philia - Friendship Love (Loyal)
• Agape - Unconditional Love (Sacrificial)

How Do We Know?

• God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love - not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
• God showed us how much he loved us by sending Jesus.

Who Are We?

• “On my worst day I am: adored, enjoyed, clean, righteous, absolutely forgiven, new, acceptable, complete, chosen… intimately loved, smiled upon, planned for.”
• Fear of punishment is gone when we experience the perfect love of God.
• If we struggle to live as truly loved by God, we will probably struggle to love others well.

How Do We Get to Live?

• Let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other.
• We have to love the people who may be hard to love. Why? Because God is love. Because Jesus laid down his life for us when we were absolutely unlovable. Because they are our brothers and sisters in the family of God. Because of all that, it’s what we get to do.

Discussion Questions:    

• Scripture says God is love. How else might people describe God?
• How does the world distort love?
• What kind of people do you find the hardest to love?
• Why do you think fear of punishment (from God) is a common trap?

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