love god, love others

Week 2: Learning to Love God

This includes: 1. Leader Preparation 2. Lesson Guide

1. LEADER PREPARATION LESSON OVERVIEW God loves us, and he’s calling all of us to love him back. He doesn’t force his will on us; we need to decide to love him back. He loved us first—demonstrating his love by creating us and then sending his Son to the cross to die for a price we couldn’t pay. God loves all of us as if there were only one of us. When we can learn to love God, everything else in life falls into place. Sounds simple enough, but the trouble comes when we try to fit God into our lives, rather than ordering our lives around God. This week’s lesson is all about helping your students discover what it means to love God first, above all else.

LESSON OBJECTIVES 1. WHAT: God calls us to love him with our heart, soul, mind, and strength—a lifestyle of love. 2. WHY: Loving God opens the door to a meaningful, blessed, significant life. 3. HOW: Students will be challenged to consider what it means to make a lifelong commitment to loving God and how that decision leads to changes and action.

PRIMARY SCRIPTURE Luke 10:25-28

SECONDARY SCRIPTURES John 14:23-24; 15:9-11; and 1 John 2:3-6

TEACHING PREP The short overview below is designed to help you prepare for your lesson. While you may not want to convey this information word-for-word with your teenagers, you’ll definitely want to refer to it as you lead your lesson.

Read Luke 10:25-28.

A religious leader asked Jesus what was required to gain eternal life, and Jesus responded with his own question: “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?” In short, the leader says, “love God, love others.” He quoted two passages from the Old Testament—Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and Leviticus 19:18. Jesus affirmed his answer, and continues to explain what it means to love others. We were created to love, and everyone loves something. In our brokenness, we can love the wrong things and we can love God with a divided heart. Loving God means devoting all of who we are—heart, soul, mind, and strength—to God. It means making God the number one priority all of the time. Help your students understand that loving God isn’t just a “church” thing, but a total life commitment. It’s not a onetime act that can be checked off of a list. Help your students explore the benefits of consistently loving God: a blessed life. Share from your own experiences, as this will serve as a powerful “living illustration” of what it means to love God.

THE BEFORE & AFTER [optional] Text Message Questions We’ve provided a couple of different text message questions to send out to your students prior to your meeting. Feel free to use one or both of the questions below. As with the rest of the curriculum, edit these questions to fit the needs of your ministry.



• Is it possible to love God with everything we have and in every area of our lives? Let’s talk about it tonight at small group.



• How do we love God with our heart, soul, strength, and mind? Come to small group tonight to get some answers.

Parent Email We’ve provided you with an email below that you can send to your parents following the lesson. Our hope is to encourage parents to continue the conversation at home. Feel free to edit and customize the email to fit your ministry needs.

Dear parents, We’ve finished our two-week small group series “Love God; Love Others” with a challenge to our students to make their love for God part of every area of their lives.



Our conversation centered around Luke 10:25-28, which reveals that God’s greatest commandment is for us to love him with our heart, soul, strength, and mind. Learning to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength is a lifelong commitment. We encouraged our students to consider the benefits and rewards of obediently loving God and pursuing lives that put love into action. Our love for God ought to connect to every area of life—it isn’t just a “church” thing or a “spiritual” part of life. As you talk with your teenager about this week’s lesson, here are some questions you might want to ask:

• How much of our experience as followers of Jesus do you think is based on our feelings, and how much of it is based on our willingness to act or serve or obey even when we don’t feel like it? • What do you think it means to develop a lifestyle of loving God? What would that look like if you pursued that path? • What are some changes you might see in your life as you love God more and more?

I pray that you and your family have an awesome week!

love god, love others

Week 2: Learning to Love God

2. LEsson guide GETTING THINGS STARTED [optional] Welcome your students and invite them into your meeting area. Open in prayer, and then jump into the lesson below. If you came up with an opening activity, movie clip, or game that worked well with your group, and you’d like to share it with other youth workers, please email us at [email protected].

TEACHING POINTS The goal of the Teaching Points is to help students capture the essence of each lesson with more discussion and less lecture-style teaching. The main points we have chosen here are (1) Loving God is a commitment, (2) Loving God is a lifestyle, and (3) Loving God leads to action. Remember: All throughout these lessons, it’s up to you to choose (1) how many questions you use, and (2) the wording of the main points—keep ours, or change the wording to make it clearer for your audience. Read Luke 10:25-28 together as a group. Consider allowing one or more of the teenagers to read the text.

SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Let’s spend a few minutes learning more about what it means to love God.

1. Loving God is a commitment ASK: • What does the word “commitment” mean to you? • If you make any kind of commitment to another person, what are you saying? What are you agreeing to do? • Do you always feel like loving or obeying God? Why or why not?

• How much of our experience as followers of Jesus do you think is based on our feelings, and how much of it is based on our willingness to act or serve or obey even when we don’t feel like it? SAY SOMETHING LIKE: These verses are often referred to as the “Great Commandment.” They form the foundation of what it means to be a Christian. When we choose to become followers of Jesus, we’re making a commitment to love God, love others, and grow in our faith. Here’s the thing about commitment: A deep, solid commitment is something we stick with even when we don’t feel like it.

2. Loving God is a lifestyle ASK: • Look at verse 27. What does it mean to love God with your heart, your soul, your strength, and your mind? • What are some ways you can love God with your heart, your soul, your strength, and your mind? Try to be as specific as you can. • What do you think it means to develop a lifestyle of loving God? What would that look like if you pursued that path? SAY SOMETHING LIKE: God wants us to love him with every part of who we are; it’s a COMPLETE LIFESTYLE commitment: heart, soul, strength, and mind. Everything we have and everything we are—it’s all committed to loving God. So, loving God is a lifestyle because it impacts everything we say, think, and do.

3. Loving God leads to action ASK: • What are some changes you might see in your life as you love God more and more? • How do people know that your love for God is real and authentic? What’s the proof? SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Loving God with everything that we have—heart, soul, strength, and mind—will lead to loving ourselves and loving others. Loving others is evidence of loving God.

ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION [optional] ASK: • Read John 15:9-11. Jesus asks us to remain in his love. What do you think that means? Why does Jesus ask us to obey him? What are the benefits of obedience? • Read John 14:23-24 and 1 John 2:3-6. Why do you think God places such a high value on obedience?

APPLICATION

• It can be difficult and overwhelming to think about giving God everything. Break it down: What’s the next thing you can give to God?

Ask each student to find a partner for these questions. ASK: • We talked today about how our love for God leads to action. What are two specific ideas for doing that in the coming week? • What steps could you take this week to deepen your commitment to loving God? • What are some ways you can make your love for God part of every area of your life?

SUMMARY End your small group lesson here. Provide your teenagers with a quick summary or take-home challenge based on (1) the content of this lesson, (2) the dialogue that took place during the lesson, (3) your understanding of the issues and struggles your teenagers are facing, and (4) the big picture of your youth ministry and what your leadership team wants accomplished with the teaching and discussion time.

FOR KEEPS [MEMORY VERSE] Encourage and/or challenge your teenagers to memorize the verse below.

The man answered, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Luke 10:27).