Follow Along with the Message

Ask the Right Questions - Part 4

Pastor Tom Lundeen

We're in an important series about how all of us have to  important moments in our lives where we aren't sure what we should do...these are Now What? moments, and depending on what we do or don't do, these times will have significant impact in our lives and futures.

Let's quickly review the first 3 questions we've explored:

1. Will This Choice/Action Be Helpful?

And we unpacked 2 tests the Apostle Paul offers to us to guide our decisions:

A. Will This Decision/Action Make Me a Better Person?

B. Does This Decision/Action Control Me, or Do I Control It?

The second important question to ask ourselves is:

2. Does This Decision/Action Bother My Conscience? 

The third question to ask ourselves is:

3. Does This Decision/Action Hurt Someone? 

The fourth question to ask ourselves is:

4. Is This Decision/Action a  Reflection of God's Love? 

• It's God's love that brought Jesus on His mission to  a lost world (note John 3:16).
• It's His love that  us as Jesus' disciples (note John 13:35).
• It's His love that is the supreme  on earth and in heaven (note 1 Corinthians 13:13).
• It's His love that ultimately is the only thing that  (note Galatians 5:6b). 
• It's His love that is the  of the Spirit (note Galatians 5:22a). 

When God's love is genuinely reflected in our lives and relationships, we can have confidence that we are in the right place to receive God's guidance and that we're in the center of His will. 

A. God's love is not a human  (note 1 John 4:7b) - love comes from God because God's  is love (note 1 John 4:8).

B. God's love is  - it's a verb (action), not a noun (note 1 John 4:9). The cross is the primary  of love. God's free, , and spontaneous (Stott) love becomes that which we respond to in return (note 1 John 4:10). 

C. God's love  us to love (note 2 Corinthians 5:14a and 1 John 4:11). 

D. God's love is the  test - it's God's love that makes our faith  (note 1 John 4:12, 13, 16a). The  God, who was once revealed in His Son, is now revealed in His people if and when they love one another (Stott). Note 1 John 4:16b-17 - Love is as much a sign of  as is righteousness (Stott). To claim to love the unseen God while not choosing for the highest good of others towards the visible images of God is a  that takes away the substance/meaning of the Christian faith (note 1 John 4:20). God clearly tells us what  really looks like (note Galatians 5:13-14). 

So now what?

• God's will for your life and mine is to become fully immersed and  in His love story (note 1 John 3:16a). 
• When we  our lives to the control of the Holy Spirit, God's love story becomes real in our lives (note 1 John 3:16b-18). 
• Love is the pre-eminent Christian virtue that makes our faith not a  but a reality.
• Love is the greatest of the 3  graces (faith, hope, and love), and without it all we do or say doesn't matter. 
• Every time we choose for the highest good of others (including God Himself), we will be right in the  of His will and much easier guided and directed by Him. 
• Have you  God's love story for your own life? 
• What do our  ...portray about the reality of God's love in our own lives?

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