Answer Key: What are You Thinking? What is love?
• heart Part 6 • action
• subordinates
• inspires Thinking about LOVE!
Change the way Think about LOVE Mark 12:30 NCV 1. Directed • figure out “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your His LOVE.... mind, and all your strength.” • active • personal • vague • beginning / end
Introductory Statement 2. Self- centered When we think of love it’s easy to think about good feelings. But
real love is not dependent on feelings. It is about so much more 3. Action • believe than how I feel about someone. Whether it is romantic love, a
member of my family, a friend, a co-worker, so often love is given 4. Miss and received based on what I myself get out of it. But what do I do
when it costs me something to love someone? How does the Bible
tell us to love?
The word LOVE is used almost 800 times in the Bible.
Four Types of Love: What is love? eros, a kind of romantic love where the lovers are hungry for each other. • Love is the ______-felt affection of the Christian • philos, friendship love where two people are linked arm in arm, shoulder in response to the love God has shown toward us, especially in the gift of to shoulder, with a common vision and a common goal and a delight and a salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. partnership pulling together toward the goal.
• storge, affection that one might have for an old sweater or slippers, an • Love is an affection which prompts the Christian to old dog that you just can’t let go of. ______. • agape, divine love characterized by sacrifice in the pursuit of another person’s good. • Love ______the interests of the
lover to the one who is loved. “God’s love paid the highest price, the life of the Son, for
undeserving enemies, to give the greatest happiness.” • Love ______our deliberate, diligent, self-
sacrificial service to others, which is intended for their good, at our expense.
Romans 5:6-8 GWT
Look at it this way: At the right time, while we were still helpless,
Christ died for ungodly people. Finding someone who would die for
a godly person is rare. Maybe someone would have the courage to die for a good person. Christ died for us while we were still sinners.
This demonstrates God’s love for us.
Change the way Think about LOVE His LOVE....
1. Love must be ______toward God • His love is ______, drawing us to himself.
before you can love others. • His love is ______l.
• He does not love humanity in some ______
Matthew 22:37-39 NLT sense. He loves humans.
“...Love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all • He loves you and me, and his love for us knows no
your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second ______and no ______."
is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire
law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two 1 John 4:16-19 NLT
commandments.” “We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his
love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives
• It is the number one thing that we need to do, is to in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So,
______how to love we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him and how to experience God's love. And it must be all about God. with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. Such
love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are
Love is first and foremost directed toward God and then afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not
toward others in an order of priority: God, family (especially fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other[a] because he
our mate), fellow-believers, our neighbor, and even our loved us first.”
enemy.
“You love, because God, the Creator of your soul, is love.”
2. Love is not ______- What Causes Self-Centeredness?
______. • Satan doesn't want you loving God or worshiping God.
• Satan doesn't want you to worship Satan.
Matthew 22:39-40 NLT •He wants you to worship yourself.
“A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. • Then when it comes to the neighbor, Satan doesn't want you loving your
The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on neighbor.
these two commandments.” •He wants you to have conflict with your neighbor.
Matthew 22:39-40 Message Jesus Said... Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and John 13:34-35 NLT prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the first on any “So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. list. But there is a second to set alongside it: ‘Love others as well as Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for you love yourself.’ These two commands are pegs; everything in one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.”
3. Love is ______packed. Model of Loving each other...
John 14:24 NLT • Life is about learning to love.
“Anyone who doesn’t love me will not obey me. And remember, my • Love is act of the will.
words are not my own. What I am telling you is from the Father • We love God by loving others.
who sent me.” • Loving others is the evidence that we belong to God’s Family.
• The greatest lesson in life is love.
To love like that, there must be a change of heart. • The whole world is watching how we love one another.
• Love cares about the destiny of others.
• Our words and actions tell the truth of what we
______.
Change the Way you think
1 John 3:17-18 NLT Do what you can to change because you see love encourages and it
“If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or serves, love leads and it gets help and it meets needs and it doesn't
sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in criticize or doesn't blame or shame or hate or hit or ignore or
that person? Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each deceive. You are either loving or you're not. You can't fake it.
other; let us show the truth by our actions.”
4. If you ______love, you missing About your Love Life...
everything. • If you're not experiencing God's love, maybe it's time to feed your heart,
1 Corinthians 13:1-3 NLT feed it with God's truth, feed it with time with God
“If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I • Free your heart, free it of the shame, Free it from the destructive
had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret passions that may own you, the self-worship. Get help,
plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I
could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. • Focus your heart.
If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my Focus it on obeying God and focus it on being generous with what body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have you have and showing compassion to the people that are near you,
gained nothing.” the people that you love and that love you. And find a way to be
kind and gentle.
• People reject Christ because His ______don’t show love.
John 13:35 Message
“
This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—
when they see the love you have for each other.”