Week 4

Hello--last week only one person showed up, so we prayed for everyone!

This week you needed to:

• Prioritize your roles
• Take care of yourself this week
• Read Chapter 4

What did you decide was your most important role? What is your least important role?

Chapter 4: Love Others as Jesus Loves You

John 13:34-35

This is a basic life purpose. All the other life purposes branch out from this. 1 Cor 13:1-3

What is the difference between love and Christlike love?

“Love, then, is spending ourselves, investing ourselves, in the daily and eternal well-being of others.”

Remember that old song, “They will know we are Christians by our love, by our love…”?

We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
And we pray that our unity will one day be restored
And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
Yes they'll know we are Christians by our love

Focusing on Jesus starts a Love cycle

1. Deepens our relationship with Jesus
2. Our lives become a bridge to Jesus for those we love
3. Our relationships with others become a support for us

Haven’t we seen this in our group? These ladies have been through a lot as we studied, laughed, prayed together. We're sending one lady off tonight on an adventure! She's sold her house and is going to travel in an RV with her husband. What kind of amazing opportunities will she have?

1 John 4:19

Do you have Destination Disease? Are you more worried about getting somewhere than enjoying the journey there? Let’s look inside our hearts and take a reality check. P66, para 1.

Ezekiel 11:19-20 "And I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them. And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and do them. Then they will be My people, and I shall be their God."

Let’s try some of the exercises Katie mentions in this chapter.

Making a loving Difference-Random Acts of Kindness
Try to look for opportunities to love on someone. It can be as simple as listening to them without offering your own story. Ask questions about what they are sharing with you. It could be letting someone go in front of you at the grocery store. It might be paying for someone’s coffee in the drive thru…think about where you go, who you see and keep your eyes open.

Get more involved in church
Try some of their duties on for size. You might find you make a great greeter!

Offer Forgiveness
Don’t put off forgiving someone today. 1 John 4:20

Take a Relational Opportunities Checkup
P72 offers ideas for reaching out in the community.

1. Ask God to fulfill your relational needs first.
2. Ask God if it would be good for you to ask someone to walk with you in this.
3. Tell God you are willing to risk love.
4. Ask God to take you from where you are today to where He wants you to be.

Pray for the Unloving and Unlovable
These are the people who grate against your nerves…the last person you want to call, have lunch with or sit next to in church. Pray for God’s best in their life. Love is caring about God’s eternal relationship with others, not warm fuzzy happy feelings. The prayer may change you more and how you behave towards them!

Homework

• Pray for God to reveal to you one particular person in which He wants you to invest more love, time, energy and/or resources in.
• Read Chapter 5