Wide: Changed with People

Key Passages: Matthew 22:39, 1 John 4:7-9, Matthew 4:1-11, John 3,4,5,9

Sermon Outline

“Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:39)

Learning Wide Love with Jesus (Matthew 22:39; 1 John 4:7-9)

• The call to wide love
• Jesus as the way of love

Learning from Jesus How Not to Love (Matthew 4:1-11)

• Love does not ________________________________
• Love does not ________________________________
• Love is not ________________________________

Four Characteristics of Jesus’ Wide Love

• Focused on ________________________________ (John 3:1-21)
• Open to ________________________________ (John 4:1-38)
• Filled with ________________________________(John 5:1-15)
• Always ________________________________(John 9:1-12)

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. 1. Answer one of the following questions:
   1. Who do you find it most difficult to love? Why?
   2. When have you felt most loved in your life? Why was that?
2. This week in our series, “Jesus Changes Everything,” we look at various Scripture passages in order to better understand what it means to love people like God. Whether you are on your own or with a small group, begin your study in prayer and ask God to draw you into His truth and life.
3. In Matthew 22:37-40, Jesus summarizes all the commandments of God with the call to love God with all of who we are and our neighbor as ourselves. In 1 John 4:9, the Apostle John tells us that God showed His love among us by sending His Son into the world. What do you think it means to learn about love from Jesus?
4. Take a moment to read Matthew 4:1-11. Before His public ministry, the devil tests Jesus to accomplish God’s purposes in a manner that was not God’s way. What were the main temptations placed before Jesus? How did He resist these temptations?
5. In contrast to the devil’s temptation, we want to learn how Jesus actually exhibits God’s love to the world. One way to do this would be to read through one of the Gospel accounts (Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John) and highlight or write down notes on how you see Jesus relating to people. For the sake of this study, let’s just look at four chapters of the Gospel of John. Read through each of these chapters and identify specific character- istics of Jesus’ love for others:
   1. John 3:1-21 – Jesus with Nicodemus, the religious teachers
   2. John 4:1-38 – Jesus with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well
   3. John 5:1-15 – Jesus with the invalid at the Bethesda Pool
   4. John 9:1-41 – Jesus with the man born blind and the religious leaders
6. Stepping back from everything you just read, what do you notice most about Jesus’ love for others?
7. What is one specific way that you need to grow in love that looks like Jesus’ love for people? If you are with a small group, discuss that with one another and then take extended time to pray about what you share. If you are studying on your own, write it down, pray about it, and share this with someone during the next few days.