Don't Love God First (Study Guide)

 “Don’t Love God First”

Sermon Study Guide for September 22, 2024


Downloadable Version


Scripture: 1 John 4:7-21


1. What’s Love Got to Do With It?

God is love…


agape

Mark 12:29-31 - the “biggest”

two sides of the same coin…





2. What Does Love Require…

…in the election season?




…in our families?

Ephesians 5:21




…in the church?

John 13:35




A walk on the shore: John 21:15-23





Questions to Discuss or Ponder:

  1. How do most people today define the word “love”? What images or ideas does our culture use to describe love?
  2. How does our cultural understanding of love differ from the Biblical idea?
  3. What is the difference between saying “God loves” and “God is love”?
  4. How did God show his love? How are we, then, to show our love to God? to others?
  5. In what area of your life or our world do you most experience the brokenness of sin? What does love require in that area of your life?
  6. Do you need to change your approach to others in this election season or in your family or in our church? In what way? How will these next few weeks be different?
  7. What is required of you right now to show God’s love to a world in need of mending? How will you respond?


Scripture for the Week:

Monday - Mark 12:28-34

Tuesday - Ephesians 5:21-6:9

Wednesday - John 13:31-35

Thursday - John 21:15-23

Friday - Psalm 54

Saturday - Luke 17:11-19


In response to this Scripture, how will you live?



Prayer Prompt: What does love require today?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dig It Up

Image
Lamentations 4:1-6 November 17, 2024 • Mount Pleasant UMC If you ever go with me to Israel (which won’t happen again until they stop shooting at each other), you should be prepared to look at a lot of rocks. That sounds exciting, huh? It’s just that when we visit the Holy Land, there are two choices for the trip. You can visit a lot of beautiful churches that have been built over the centuries to commemorate Biblical events. Or you can go to the actual sites and see where things most likely happened, what has been uncovered and learn a bit about how people lived in those days. You can probably guess which trip I do, and I do it because I love archaeology. I love trying to understand the past and especially envisioning how different life was then than it is now. I have found that walking in the actual places gives a breadth and depth to the Biblical story that you just can’t get any other way. One of the places we go on that journey is the excavation outside the walls of the Templ...
Read more

Decision Tree

Image
Revelation 22:1-5 May 5, 2024 • Mount Pleasant UMC It had only been four days since the Winter Olympics in Beijing had ended. Four whole days of basking in the unity and the camaraderie that the Olympics are known for. The world comes together for these games to compete in a wide variety of sports and demonstrate that we can get along, at least for a couple of weeks. World leaders usually attend, too, and one of the prominent attendees in Beijing was Russian president Vladimir Putin. All eyes were on Putin because his army had been establishing itself along the border with Ukraine. And four days after the Olympics were over, that army moved. Here we are, over two years later, and the invasion and the conflict goes on. My friend Tony was on a Lands of the Bible trip and the next day they were to dock in Israel. October 7. That was the day the terrorist group Hamas launched 3,000 rockets into southern Israel along with ground vehicles and paragliders. Before the day was over, ove...
Read more

Invitations (Study Guide)

  “Invitations” Sermon Study Guide for June 30, 2024 Downloadable Version Scripture: Matthew 22:1-14 1. A Party Parable The audience: The players in the story: The invitation(s): Matthew 23:37-38 - kill the prophets 2. The Shabby Guest provision of clothing punishment Bottom Line: ________________________________ 3. Wearing the Right Clothing John 1:14 - grace and truth Questions to Discuss or Ponder: What does it mean to you to be invited to an event? What’s the most exciting or impressive invitation you’ve ever received? Why does Jesus conflict with the Jewish religious leaders so often? Why does he aim his teaching at them during this final week? If you were the king, having your invitation soundly (and violently) rejected, how would you feel? How would you respond? Why do you think proper attire for the wedding feast was so important? What does the “shabby guest” represent in the parable? What “clothing” does Jesus long to give us? How are you seeing that “cloth...
Read more