EXCERPT
When it is done right, the local church is A Place to Belong, a place where you can really care for other people and be authentically cared for by them in return. When it is done right, the local church is A Place to Find Love.
MESSAGE NOTES
THREE REACTIONS WHEN YOU MENTION “CHURCH”
1) A Place To Find Pain!
2) A Place To Find Boredom!
3) A Place To Find Love!
TWO REASONS WCC IS A PLACE TO FIND LOVE
1) WE WILL SHOW YOU THAT YOU ARE A LOVABLE PERSON!
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. This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. ~ 1 John 4:7-9
I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness. ~ Jeremiah 31:3
2) WE ARE ALL BROKEN BUT HEALING PEOPLE
This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us. ~ 1 John 4:10-12
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another. ~ John 13:34-35
GO DEEPER
ALOHA GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
PLEASE REFER TO THE SCRIPTURES AND MESSAGE NOTES DURING YOUR DISCUSSION
1) When you were growing up, which of those three groups of people would you have fallen into when Pastor Greg asked you what you thought of the word “church?” Why?
2) How about now? When you think of the word “church” what does it mean to you? Do you think of our church as a place where people can find love? Why or why not?
3) Can you describe a time where someone in our church did or said something to you that made you feel loved? What was it? How intentional are you about making sure you show and say loving things to others in our church? What effect do you think it had on the other person? What steps could you take to do and say those things more regularly?
4) Do you feel like you are a “loveable person?” Why or why not? According to the Scriptures and Pastor G’s message what it is that makes someone “loveable?” According to the Scriptures and Pastor G’s message is anyone “unloveable?”
5) Pastor G said “We are all broken but healing people.” Do you agree or disagree with that statement? Why?
6) How would you respond to someone who says they don’t believe God loves them because they have experienced a lot of loss and pain in their life? They say: “If God really loved me, this awful thing would not have happened to me.”
7) John told us if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us. How does our loving each other complete God’s love?
8) Jesus told the disciples He was giving them “a new command.” In what way was His command for them to love one another a new command? He also says by loving one another everyone will know that we are His disciples? Why is that?