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Group Discussion
Questions for facilitating dynamic discussion
First Love
September 13,2025
Week 2: God's Love ENABLES Us
Jeff Griffin
1 John 4:7-8
In this week’s passage, we learned that we must experience God’s love if we are going to be able to love others well.
Jeff started his sermon by an artesian spring in the Waterfall Glen Forest Preserve. How do you prefer your drinking water? Spring, Filtered, Tap, Iced, Sparkling, Flavored?
1. Reread 1 John 4:8: “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
What does John mean by “God is love”?
2. Reread 1 John 4:7a: “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.”
“Dear friends” is more literally translated “Beloved.” While the word “beloved” is antiquated, why is that word significant in this context?
3. Reread 1 John 4:7b: “Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.”
Discuss why it is necessary to be “born of God” and to “know God” in order to love others with God’s kind of love.
4. Can you think of anyone who is both 1) very close to God and 2) very loving? If so, tell the group about them.
5. Can you think of a time when you felt God’s love for you? If so, tell the group about it.
6. How would you advise someone wanting to experience/feel God’s love for them?
7. Reread 1 John 4:12 (NLT): “No one has ever seen God, but if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression through us.”
Though we can’t see God, we can experience him when we are loving someone with his love. Can you think of a time when you experienced this dynamic?
Pray for God to help you feel his love. Ask the Lord to help you love others with the overflow of his love in your heart.