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Life’s Questions – Week 39 Study Guide

OPENER

Begin by reading the following passages:

Gen 6:5 The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth and his heart was filled with pain.

Exodus 3:7 I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering.

Duet. 7:7-8 The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other people, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers and that he brought you out with a mighty hand.

Jeremiah 31:3 after Israel has rebelled and experienced exile, “I have loved you with an everlasting love and have drawn you with loving kindness.”

Question: Identify the emotions expressed in these passages. What do you learn about God? What do we learn about relationship? Why is it important?

OBJECTIVE

Our objective is to understand that God is a relational and emotional being. He feels, relates, and loves. Because we are made in His image, we have intrinsic value because we bear some of His qualities. As image-bearers, the best way we can express God’s image as a relational/emotional being is by growing in love.

STUDY

READ: I John 4:7-13

7 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 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 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.

Question: How does this passage help us better understand God’s love? 

Question: Verse 10 uses the word “atoning,” what does it mean? Why is it vital for us to know?

Question: If it is true that God loves me with enduring affection, why don’t I feel like God loves me? What are some reasons a person might feel this way?

Now Go back to 1 John 4:7-13

Question: Write out your answers to the following questions. 

How do I love?

What would costly love look like for you?

Is there anything that I need to change?

APPLICATION: 

Rest in God’s love. As we love others, we realize He continues to fill us with His love.

  1. Think often and deeply about God’s love. He has affection for you that endures. 

1 John 3:1 “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God!” And that is what we are!

Psalm 8 “When I consider the heavens the work of your fingers what is man that you are mindful of him.”

Think about the heavens and God’s greatness and remember God is mindful of you.

  1. Love One Another

V12 “Dear friends since God so loved us we ought to love one another. No one has seen God but if we love one another God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. If we love one another God lives in us and his LOVE is made complete in us.”

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