SilentSorrow.net - Lesson 6: Love One Another

Lesson Six
Love One Another

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.
Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
1 John 4:7-8

Expressions of your heartache and hope are written in this book. Blurred ink here and there may even tell its own story of a few shed tears.

Our Lord has, no doubt, touched you in many ways on your journey toward peace. He has been a fortress and a great Friend. So what now?

u Is There a Plan for My Life?

Read Ephesians 1:3-14.

What major activity is undertaken by each person of the Triune God: Father, Son, Holy Spirit? Is each activity past, present, or future?

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In what ways does this encourage you?

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What are some of the greatest benefits of God’s grace to you?

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Do you believe God has a plan for your life that He is carefully completing now?

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What evidences do you have that the Holy Spirit is working in your life?

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What is the foremost ministry to which you are called? Why? 2 Corinthians 5:17-20.

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u No Confidence in the Flesh

Read Philippians 3:1-11.

How did Paul view his privileged background? Why? *

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In verses 4 and 5, Paul detailed why he could be confident in himself. If you were to make a list like Paul’s, what would you say about yourself?

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How do you see these descriptions as advantages? *

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What would happen if these advantages were no longer a part of your life?

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How do they affect your sense of worth? Your sense of identity?

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How do you suppose God views this? *

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*Serendipity House, see Acknowledgements

u Pressing on Toward the Goal

Read Philippians 3:12-21.

What is the prize Paul speaks about in this passage?

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Do you think it is possible to literally forget significant life experiences?

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What do you think is meant by “forgetting what is behind”?

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What does verse 16 mean?

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How does this relate to pressing on toward the goal? *

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How would your life be different if you really considered yourself to be a citizen of heaven and only an alien here on earth? *

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What changes will you make so that your life will reflect your heavenly citizenship?

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*Serendipity House, see Acknowledgements

u The Application of Love

Love is different from lust. Lust is the sinful desire for sexual fulfillment and is entirely self-focused. Love, as taught in the Bible, is an expression of totally unselfish concern and care for another person.

Read 1 John 4:7-21.

Is the love discussed in this passage an action or a feeling? Why? *

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What does this tell you about love?

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Why is it a lie to say that you love God but do not love your brothers (other Christians)?

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How would you summarize the Christian concept of love?

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In what ways will you begin to demonstrate your love to others?

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*Serendipity House, see Acknowledgements

Take time: The reason doctors persist in doing abortions is because they do not have the Light in their lives. Will you pray for the salvation of the individual who performed the abortion?

u Overcoming the World

Read 1 John 5:1-12.

Who are the overcomers?

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Who is the power source that enables us to overcome the world?

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How are belief, love, and obedience interconnected? *

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*Serendipity House, see Acknowledgements

u Hope for the Overcomers

In the following verses, what promises do overcomers have from God?

Revelation 2:7______________________________________________________________________

Revelation 2:11_____________________________________________________________________

Revelation 2:17_____________________________________________________________________

Revelation 2:26-27____________________________________________

Revelation 3:4-6______________________________________________

Revelation 3:12-13___________________________________________

Revelation 3:21-22___________________________________________

u Eternal Promises

Using your own words, what promises do you find in the following Scriptures?

John 4:14__________________________________________________________________________

John 8:12__________________________________________________________________________

John 14:27_________________________________________________________________________

u How Shall I Carry On?

What instructions does God give you for your daily walk with Him?

Hebrews 12:2-3_____________________________________________________________________

Peter 5:8__________________________________________________________________________

Hebrews 13:5______________________________________________________________________

Colossians 3:17_____________________________________________________________________

1 Peter 1:13-16_____________________________________________________________________

2 Timothy 4:1-5_____________________________________________________________________

1 Thessalonians 5:14-24_______________________________________________________________

Philippians 4:8-9______________________________________________

Christians are living testimonies of God’s great mercy and compassion. Though we have sinned, we are forgiven. The weighty burdens of our past have been lifted from our shoulders. We are able to walk upright with our Lord.

When we rest in knowing that we are loved by God, we are able to face our tomorrows with blessed assurance. We are able to reach out in Jesus’ name to others in need and comfort them with the same comfort that we have received from our Maker.

Therefore, please don’t be afraid to share with your friends and family what your Lord has done for you. You may help them to understand the depths of God’s love for sinners. For we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Yet God extends His forgiveness to each of us.

Meditations

Read and meditate on the following verses and questions until you’re ready for the next lesson or until your group meets again.

For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all ¾ how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died ¾ more than that, who was raised to life ¾ is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long, we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God
that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:29-39

Be alert. A day may come when you will be tempted to put on the old yokes of bondage.

Please don’t let the cravings of your flesh or the destroyer’s lies rob your joy and peace. Take courage, we are more than conquerors through Jesus Christ.

What assurances from the passage above will help you resist these future temptations?

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