REALLIFE STUDY GROUP

“The Truth About Love and Marriage!”

 

ICEBREAKER: What is your favorite gift to receive for Valentine’s Day?  Be specific. For example: don’t just say candy….what kind of candy and how many pounds of candy?

 

INTRODUCTION: Sometimes it’s hard to express our love for each other.  Clearly we live in a world that is broken and wounded because we see people operating in far more fear than we see them living in the perfect place of love.  We say we love our new clothes, our favorite ice cream cone, our family and our God.  And yet there are many different kinds of love.  Love is more than a gift; it is a fruit of the Spirit.  In other words, it’s what happens to us when we hang out with God’s Spirit.  We begin to love like God does. 

 

One author defines the attributes of love this way:

The growth of the Spirit is love!

Joy is the expression of love.

Peace is the realization of love.

Long suffering is the endurance of love.

Gentleness is the administration of love.

Goodness is the character of love.

Faith is the response of love and being loved.

Meekness is the disposition of love.

Temperance is the control of love.

 

It’s time for God’s people to truly show our world the love of Christ! We need to drop the judgmental, legalistic, religious masks and let the love of God shine in the darkness.  The world is wiring for us to love them!

 

CONFESSION: My God does not just have love.  He is love, therefore He can never run out of love because He would cease to exist if He stopped loving.  The more time I spend with God, the greater His love flows through me.  When I become more like God I will love sacrificially, not selfishly! I will love extravagantly, not exotically! I will love obediently, not obstinately!  I will love purposefully!  I will love passionately!

 

DEFINITION: Love: (Greek words) Eros: sexual, physical or erotic love; Phileo: brotherly, friendship love; Agape: the God kind of love, a sacrificial love that seeks the highest and the best for the object of that love. Storage: a maternal, comforting, nurturing kind of love.

 

OUTLINE:

Symptoms that you’re letting your love sour:

1.   You stop serving and preferring and start ignoring each other’s needs

2.   You stop praying for them and start telling God on them

3.   You stop listening to them and start shouting over them

4.   You stop trying and start looking for affirmation from something or someone else

5.   You stop encouraging and start criticizing, critiquing and comparing

6.   You stop forgiving and start rehearsing faults, flaws and failures

7.   You stop investing and start withdrawing emotionally

8.   You stop believing the best and start believing the worst

9.   You stop seeing through the eyes of love and compassion and start viewing others through the tinted glasses of hurt, resentment and disappointment

10. You stop excusing them and start blaming them

11. You stop building up and start belittling, berating, begrudging and

badgering

12. You stop appropriate touch and start physical abuse

13. You stop referring to each other in affectionate terms and start speaking to each in antagonistic terms

14. You stop appreciating the very thing that drew you together and start trying to change them

15. You stop respecting each other and start removing yourself from their influence

Major areas we need to come into agreement in our marriages:

1.   Agreement on money spending, investing, giving, saving

2.   Agreement on raising children

3.   Agreement on love

4.   Agreement on values

5.   Agreement on faith

6.   Agreement on vision/goals

7.   Agreement on lifestyle

8.   Agreement on relationships

9.   Agreement on priorities

10. Agreement on communication

11. Agreement on boundaries

 

WHAT IS LOVE?

1.   Love is a walk (Ephesians 5:1,2)

2.   Love is a fruit (Galatians 5:22,23)

3.   Love is a way (1 Corinthians 12:31)

4.   Love is a lesson (1 Thessalonians 4:9)

5.   Love is a commandment (John 15:12)

 

TEXT: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13; 1 John 15:9-13; Matthew 24:12, 13; Jude 20-25; Genesis 2:24

 

STUDY GROUP QUESTIONS:

1.   According to Jude 20-24, how can we keep ourselves in the love of Christ?

2.   Identify one thing in 1 Corinthians 13 that jumps out at you about how God’s love behaves.

3.   How can Christians and the church be more loving?

4.   There are many, but tell us three people in your life that have shown you God’s love.

5.   In what way could you use a little more of God’s love?

6.   What would this world be like if all of God’s love was suddenly removed from the earth?

7.   Which of the symptoms that you are letting your love sour listed in the outline do you need to work on?

 

PRAISE REPORTS & PRAYER REQUESTS:

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

 

ACTION POINT: This week I will choose to come into agreement on a deeper level in the covenant relationships in my life.