The Church Overview: "THREE LOVES" described in "THREE WORDS"
Prayerful (Love God): All of life in God’s presence.
Family (Love One Another): All of life with God’s people.
Mission (Love the World): All of life with God’s passion.
We follow Jesus every day in every area of our life, 24-7. We don’t follow Jesus as individuals only, but as a family of families consumed with His love, power and presence. The primary way we express this shared life is in The Church. Following Jesus means that we love what He loves and share in His dreams. It means we dive deep into His Father, His family, His Spirit, His story and His world. Jesus suffered and died for all people, rich or poor, from all cultures and contexts. His passion was to bring home a hurting humanity and make beautiful a damaged creation. He called all people to follow Him, and called His followers to join His mission.
REMEMBER (30 min)
Remember God: Worship and Prayer
Remember each other: Care
Spend time in groups of 3-5, or all together speaking encouragements over one another as an act of love.
Remember the Liturgy:
Remember what we learned and put into practice last week: Accountability
Topic: The Greatest Commandment: Part 1
Share briefly how you put into practice what the Lord showed you regarding growing in a particular aspect of love for God.
REFLECT (30 min)
Prepare (See the Leaders Guide for a brief commentary and context for the scripture and core truth from the topic)
Introduce today’s topic and any commentary or context for the scripture
Topic Title- “The Great Commandment - Love Your Neighbor as Yourself”
Share the Summary Scripture for the topic if you want
Share “Core Truths from the topic” in the leaders guide where needed
Share context for Scripture Story- Luke 10:25-37 (The Good Samaritan)
Discover
Read the Scripture: Luke 10:25-37
Discussion Questions
What is the biblical and historical context?
What does this reveal about God and People (optional)
The text says the expert in the law desired to “justify himself”, asking who is my neighbor? How was he trying to justify himself?
Jesus told a parable about a Samaritan caring for a beat up Jewish man. Why was that so radical and challenging for the expert in the law to hear?
At the end of the parable Jesus asks, “which of these three, do you think, proved to be the neighbor to the man who fell among robbers? How was Jesus flipping the lawyer's question around?
How do we try to justify ourselves and avoid loving people we don’t like or who are from other cultures that we may have prejudice against?
RESPOND (30 min)
Experience and Encounter
Discuss what it would look like practically to love our neighbors like the “Good Samaritan” modeled, learning to be neighbors to people in our city rather than looking for loopholes to justify ourselves?
Lord’s Supper (Communion)
Pray
The Lord’s Prayer
Practice and Obey
Do something this week to be a neighbor to someone in need.
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