Love Moves
Luke 5:17-26
Love does not stay still or do nothing. It moves to where people are so that we can help them take steps to follow Jesus. At Journey Church, we want more people to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and experience His healing. This week, we will explore how love has the transformative power to advance God's kingdom and the role we get to play in it.
1. Do you have anything to share about how God spoke to you and its impact on your life?
2. How would you describe the connection between love and generosity?
3. Biblical love is always expressed through action. Compassion is love in motion, moving toward those who are hurting to bring them healing, hope, and deliverance from whatever afflicts them. What does “Love Moves” mean to you?
4. Read John 13:35. What is Jesus saying in this verse? What does this mean to you personally?
5. Read Luke 5:17-26. These guys did not merely feel sorry for their friend; they acted to move with love to help and bring him to Jesus. How did this man come to experience the love of Jesus and the power of Jesus to heal Him?
6. What things did the friends do to bridge the gap between where the paralytic was and Jesus? What do you suppose it cost them? Whatever it did cost them, would they say the sacrifice was worth it?
7. This story illustrates the essential difference between compassion and sympathy. In your own words, how would you define the difference between compassion and sympathy?
8. Love moves through faith. What compelled the heart of Jesus in this situation and brought healing was not the faith of the paralytic but the faith of his friends. Read through Luke 5:20 again; at what point does Scripture indicate that Jesus noticed what was happening?
9. Love isn't always easy. At times, it can be messy, inconvenient, and uncomfortable. At its core, love often demands sacrifice. It urges us to set aside our comfort, plans, or resources for the sake of someone else. Sacrifice isn’t a term we enjoy hearing, but it is one of the truest expressions of love. When love moves us to sacrifice, it mirrors the essence of God’s love for us. What are some ways we can show love to others?
10. Think back to the paralyzed man’s friends. Their sacrifices weren’t wasted. Their love moved them to act, and their friend’s life was changed forever because of their action. What if your sacrifice could do the same for someone else? Love moves, and sometimes, it moves us to give more than we ever thought possible. What would it look like for you to love sacrificially in this season? What roof do you need to tear through to help others experience Jesus in DeLand?"
11. Verse 26 concludes with the people exclaiming, ““We have seen remarkable things today!” Pastor James opened his message by stating that, as a church, we would take up a special offering to help advance the vision the Lord has given us. How incredible would it be for our church to stand and declare,“We have seen remarkable things today!” What would it feel like to know you were part of something significant like that?
If you missed the expansion offering last weekend, you can continue to give through the month of December, all we ask is that you ask God what He would have you do and then obey Him.