Fruit of the Spirit

FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT

sin LOVE salvation

1. GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTION:

Do you make New Year’s resolutions or “give up” something for Lent?

Have you ever fully kept those commitments?

2. PASSAGE: 1 JOHN 4:7-21

7Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. 10This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us.

13We know that we live in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 14And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. 15If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. 16And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives God, and God in him. 17In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like Him. 18There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

19We love because He first loved us. 20If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21And He has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

3. Love in us comes from _________________.

4. What does being born of God mean to you?

5. Verses 9 & 10 tell us Jesus birth and death show God’s love. How do these 2 events help us understand the greatness of God’s love?

6. From the 1 John passage what assures you that you are Gods?

PERSPECTIVE

Verse 10 ends with (Jesus came to) sacrifice for our sins.

• Sin is lawlessness (doing what we want instead of what God wants) 1Jn 3:4
• Sin separates us from God. Is 59:2

• All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Ro 3:23
• The wages of sin is death. Ro 6:23

7. What is our reasonable response to this knowledge ?

8. In light of this perspective, how can we show love and thanks to God through our relationships with our:

• Self
• Family
• Friends
• Church
• enemies

9. Define LOVE:

10. Is there someone you know or with whom you must interact with who is really hard to love? Why?

CHALLENGE: 1 John 4:21

And He has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

Lent is a time to reflect, renew and reconcile with God and our brothers

NEXT WEEK: JOY LUKE 24:33-53