“Growing God’s Kind of Love”

Sunday Lesson December 27th

"Fruit of the Spirit" - When we believe in Jesus and agree to live life according to God’s principles, the Holy Spirit comes to live in our lives to help us. He teaches us, He shows us the way to go, He reminds us of the things that are important to God; He changes us by helping us replace our bad habits with His better characteristics. We are like His garden and He grows good things in us. One of the things the Holy Spirit grows in us is love. ~ Pastor Jane
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Today’s Lesson - “Growing God’s Kind of Love”
The Fruit of the Spirit - Love-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqC21JQBcaI (DouglasTalks)

Lesson Overview:
When the Holy Spirit lives in us, He produces God’s kind of love in us. We will behave differently from others around us. Lots of people talk about loving their family, their friends, favourite activites and food, like, “I love pizza!” But that’s not God’s love.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 tells us what God’s love looks like: “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.”

If you want to know how much you live with God’s love in your life, try replacing the word ‘love’ with you name. For example, “Jane is patient...” Oops already I can see that I have room for improvement!

God’s love is absolutely amazing–you can’t earn it, or lose it. He loves us no matter what. And He wants us to love others the same way He loves us...even our enemies! God’s love is incredible and He wants us to become loving in the same way He is. It isn’t easy, but that’s why He has given us the Holy Spirit to help us.

Engage:
How much does God love us? (John 3:16, Romans 5:8)
How much are we to love others? (Matthew 5:43-47)
How can we show love to someone who is mean to us? (Romans 12:9-13)

Theme verses:
Galatians 5:22-23- “The Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!”
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Prayer - Thank you God for loving us so much that you sent Jesus to die for us...even when we didn’t know you and weren’t your friends. Help us to love others the way you want us to. You want us to become more like Jesus, but we need your Holy Spirit’s help to do it. Thank you that we have the Holy Spirit to grow your fruit in our lives, so that we can please you, our heavenly Father! Amen