So Loved

Scripture: John 3:16-18

Proved It: The World

Have you ever SO loved something? Your emotion towards that thing or that person feels like a wave crashing over you that you cannot contain or control. And a love like this leads us to do something about it. A love like this leads us to give to it, doesn’t it? 

Maybe for you, you SO loved your college that you GAVE financially to the alumni association. Maybe you SO loved your boyfriend/ girlfriend that you GAVE them a ring. 

The most famous verse of the whole Bible, John 3:16, seems to have lost its power, and it’s our fault. But the greatest news of all history lies in this one verse: “For God so loved the world, that he sent his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” 

God didn’t love us like he loves Stranger Things, or the University of Georgia, or even the rest of his creation. He SO loves us. And this love led him to GIVE us a gift. He hasn’t loved us just with empty promises- He proved it! He sent Jesus, His only Son, down from the perfection of Heaven to live here with us- to endure all the things we do, to live without flaw, and to suffer death on a cross as a substitute for us. Why? Is it because we deserve it? Is it because He needs us? No. It’s all because he SO loved us, that he couldn’t help but give us what we most desperately needed. 

God longs for us to want him as much as he wants us. It says God loved and he gave, “that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” This is for you. This is for me. This is for WHOEVER believes. And the invitation is this: life to the full here on earth and eternal paradise in Heaven. 

1. Have you watered down the gospel? 
2. Do you believe that God’s gift is here and now, not just in eternity? What does it look like for you to live life to the full? 
3. Have you received the gift God has offered you freely? 

Scripture: Luke 15:1-7

So Loved the Lost

How familiar are you with the feeling of being lost?

Maybe when you were younger, you experienced what it was like to be physically lost – you were in a crowd of people and lost sight of your parents. Maybe your phone died causing you to lose your GPS signal, and you found yourself lost on your way to an unknown destination.

Or maybe, you can familiarize yourself with the feeling of being in a lost season. Like you’ve lost touch with who you are. Like you no longer recognize who is staring back at you in the mirror. Maybe you are lost right now.

What’s so interesting about the parable of the lost sheep is not that the 1 sheep was lost. Sheep are notorious for losing their way. What is fascinating is that the shepherd would leave 99 sheep to go after the 1 lost one.

What we learn from this parable is that we worship a God who actively seeks out lost people. He does not wait for the lost one to stumble upon Him, He goes after the one who is on the edge, who cannot find their way in and of themselves.

This is how much God SO loved the lost.

This is how much God SO loves the one lost sheep in your life.

This is how much God SO loved you when you were the lost sheep.

What a joy to know that we follow a God who searches for us when we are lost!

If you feel like you are the lost sheep today, here’s a reminder from today’s Scripture: The Shepherd is searching for you, and when He finds you, He will carry you to safety!

Friend, you can never be so far away from God that He stops His search for you. He has not lost sight of you. There is no distance you can wander that would deem you too far gone from Him. God is your Shepherd, and He never stops searching for you.

1. What does this parable teach you about God’s love?
2. If you’ve experienced being the lost sheep, at what moment did you know you were lost? What was it like being found?
3. How does this parable change the way you see the lost sheep in your circles of influence?

Scripture: Romans 8:37-39

Nothing You Can Do/Unstoppable Love

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Have you ever thought of the love that God has for you as being victorious, powerful, or unstoppable?

Maybe when you think of the love of God, an image of God holding a lamb in the midst of a warm, heavenly glow – something straight out of a children’s Bible – comes to mind. While that kind of tenderness and intimacy is an aspect of God’s love, it is not the whole picture.

Romans 8 reminds us that, because God has conquered all things, we too can conquer all things. The Greek word that is used for the phrase “more than conquerors” is hypernikaō, and it means “to gain a surpassing victory.” 

This claim is found in the midst of Paul emphasizing that believers can look forward to the ultimate victory of Jesus: Jesus’ defeat over suffering and oppression, both earthly and supernatural. God’s plan for salvation ends in victory, and that victory is found in the love of Christ.

The love that God has for us, and therefore the love that we have the opportunity to share with others, is active, moving, and an insurmountable force. It is an image of a soldier on the battlefield, utterly destroying his enemy. 

It is an image of your favorite football team completely slaughtering their opponents, running touchdown after touchdown with no chance of a comeback for the other team. It is an image of a single mom doing whatever it takes to make ends meet. It is an image of a student breaking generational strongholds that grip their family and choosing the love of Jesus each and every day.

The victory of the love of God means that we don’t have to be gripped by the fear that chokes the world around us. Our heavenly Father holds us in His hand, the same hand that conquered death and the grave. As His beloved child, you have that same power: you are more than a conqueror, armed with the “sword of the Spirit” and protected by the “shield of faith” (Ephesians 6:14-17).

1. Read Ephesians 6:10-17. What part of the armor of God do you need? How can you intentionally put on the armor of God?
2. Do you believe that you are a conqueror and that you live in victory? Why or why not?
3. What in your life do you need God’s love to defeat and conquer in Jesus’ name?