The Great Pursuit

What is the greatest thing in the world? What is the noblest goal for anyone to go after? The greatest goal is love! Nothing else matters. The greatest gifts you may have or desire to have are the other relationships that mean nothing without love. Love brings about the greatest transformation. Love, we were created for it.

In this 7-week Life Group series, we will discover what real love is, the kind of love that comes straight from the Father’s heart. You were made for the one thing that really matters: Love.

Getting Started in Your Life Group: In this 7-week series, you’ll be lead with a discussion video, equipping verses to read together, and discussion questions. Each group should be 90+ minutes and about 30 minutes for hanging out afterward.

Before Your Group

Create the right atmosphere by being hospitable. Let’s roll out the red carpet for those coming to our Life Group. Whether that’s meeting them at the door, getting their drinks, or even giving a tour of your home—be sure to help them feel comfortable and taken care of. That mean providing a clean environment too. It sounds very practical, but it speaks volume.

During Your Group

Allow everyone to participate in discussion. Be sure that everyone has the opportunity to speak. Be honest, open, and transparent. Remember to be you, and understand that God has equipped you to leave this group!

Close with prayer. Take time during your Life Group to pray for one another, allowing others to lead in prayer.

After Group

Set time aside for hang out. Whether it’s before or after, be intentional to leave room for people to get to know each other.

Respect others time. It can be easy to get off track and lose track of time, but be sensitive to others responsibilities by closing the group at the time that you set.

Thank everyone for coming. Be sure to thank everyone for coming, and when you do so, set the next time for your next Life Group.

Life Group Discussion Video

Week 1: What is the Greatest Thing in the World?

What is the greatest thing in the world? What is the noblest goal for anyone to go after? The greatest goal is love! Nothing else matters. The greatest gifts you may have or desire to have are the other relationships that mean nothing without love. Love brings about the greatest transformation. Love, we were created for it.
At the end of all things,

Bible Reading

1 Corinthians 13:1-3

If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing. *

1 Corinthians 14:1

Let love be your highest goal! But you should also desire the special abilities the Spirit gives—especially the ability to prophesy. *

Luke 10:38-42

As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught. But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.” But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Life Group Discussion Questions

Why are spiritual gifts meaningless without love?
What does it mean to make love your highest goal?
Describe the difference between Mary and Martha.
When are you tempted to be like Martha?
How is busyness getting in the way of loving Jesus?

Life Group Discussion Video

Week 3: Love is Kind & Generous

Love is actively kind. Have you ever noticed how much of the life of Jesus was spent doing kind things? Someone said, “The greatest thing a man can do for his Heavenly Father is to be kind to some of His other children.” Why is it we are not kinder than we are? Oh, how the world needs kindness and how easily it can be done. How suddenly it can happen. How kindness is remembered. If there is any kindness that I can do for someone, I must do it now. Love is generous, not envious.

Bible Reading

1 Corinthians 13:4

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud.

2 Corinthians 6:5-6

We have been beaten, been put in prison, faced angry mobs, worked to exhaustion, endured sleepless nights, and gone without food. We prove ourselves by our purity, our understanding, our patience, our kindness, by the Holy Spirit within us, and by our sincere love.

Life Group Discussion Questions

What would love look like without kindness?
According to 2 Corinthians 6:5, what type of harsh treatment did Paul and his companions experience?
What was their response to this harsh treatment?
What enabled Paul and his companions to respond this way?
How does kindness and generosity reflect God’s character in us?

Life Group Discussion Video

Week 4: Love is Humble

Here is the secret to being attractive to God—humility. What does humility look like when it shows up in your home, workplace, school? What happens to the person who cultivates humility? Humility puts a seal on your lips and forgets the good you have done. After you have been patient, kind, and generous, after love has done its beautiful work, go back into the shade and say nothing about it.

Bible Reading

1 Corinthians 13:4

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud.

Philippians 2:3-11

Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.

You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Life Group Discussion Questions

When has jealousy gotten the best of you?
When are you tempted to be boastful or proud?
According to Philippians 2, what is the definition of humility?
What does it mean to think of others as better than yourself? Does this mean that you aren’t as good as others? Why would the Bible instruct believers to do this?
How is Jesus the best example of humility?

Life Group Discussion Video

Week 5: Love is Courageous & Unselfish

Love cannot be rude. Love is someone who does things gently. The ungentle person, the inconsiderate, and the unsympathetic nature cannot do anything else. This courtesy comes out of a life of unselfishness that does not demand its own way. This is love relating to people. Jesus calls us to give up ourselves and to not seek things for ourselves. There is no happiness in having or getting anything, but only in giving.

Bible Reading

1 Corinthians 13:5

[Love is not] rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.

1 Peter 3:8

Finally, all of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude.

James 3:14-16

But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying. For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind.

Life Group Discussion Questions

How does rudeness portray a lack of love?
What does it mean to keep a record of wrongs?
How does pride produce rudeness, demanding behavior, and irritability?
How do love, sympathy, and tenderheartedness stem from ahumble attitude?

Life Group Discussion Video

Week 6: Love is Good-Tempered & Pure

Love is not rude. Love is not bad-tempered. A bad temper is one of the most destructive elements of human nature. You can have the most moral of people, but put this stain of being easily offended, easily provoked, and it’s the ruin of them. This bad temper is evil, but it is looked at as just a small thing. Yet it breaks up communities, families, devastates homes, destroys relationships, and ruins children. Bad temper reveals something deeper going on. Love, its purity is seen in how it handles being wronged.

Bible Reading

1 Corinthians 13:5-6

[Love is not] rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.

Luke 15:28-32

“The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him, but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!’

“His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’”

Life Group Discussion Questions

In Luke 15, what was the older brother’s complaint to his father?
What was the older brother’s reward?
Why should we celebrate the “younger brothers?”
What should your attitude be toward a prodigal?

Life Group Discussion Video

Week 7: Love in Action

Love leads to action. Character grows in the stream of the world’s life. That is where we must learn to love. Love without action wouldn’t seem like love. There is no loving heart without loving deeds.