Bible Study “Abide In My Love”
Share: Your highs (something that made you happy) and lows (something that made you sad) this week with others around you or write them down.
God's love: God's love for us, enabling us to love God. God's joy in us making joy complete. We are invited into this vast collaboration of love, invited to be part of God’s team, considered friends, no longer servants. God has, so to speak, looked each one of us in the eye and said, "You did not choose me but I chose you." Chosen, by God, to bear the fruit of love.
Jesus is explaining to his disciples how they are to carry his love and bear fruit through their ministry. In this passage, you will learn that Jesus commands love in action, which is what he demonstrated for us.
In this message, you will learn the comforting truth that Jesus calls them His friends! While earthly relationships can sometimes disappoint us, Jesus is a true friend that promises to always love and comfort us. We recognize that His love is real and satisfying, and we encourage you to pass that love on to others!
Opening Prayer: Thank you, God, for showing us what love is. Thank you for loving us even when our behavior is not what it could be. Thank you for telling us to love everyone, even when you know we will not LIKE everyone. Amen.
Please open your Bibles to John 15:9-17 and read or read the scriptures below.
John 15:9-17
9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 17 This is my command: Love each other.
- How do you hear this story?
- What do you think the person that wrote this would say to us today?
- What word or phrase stands out to you when you read this?
Reflection Questions for verses 9-11:
- Who is talking here? (Jesus)
- What kind of love does he describe between him and God the Father?
- What kind of love does he describe between Jesus and the friends he is talking to? (In both cases, true love.)
Reflection Questions for verses 12-14:
- Who are the “friends” Jesus is talking to here? (The disciples – those who had been with him all this time.)
- What would one of these friends do if he disagreed with one of the others – or even got mad at one of the others? (They would work it out and not stop loving each other.)
Reflection Questions for verses 15-17:
• What is the difference between being Jesus’ friends and Jesus’ servants? (The answer is in verse 15.)
• How did these people get to be Jesus’ friends? (Verse 16a.)
• What do we think Jesus means when he says that God will give these people “whatever you ask him in my name?” (You need to be sure that what you are asking for is in sync with what you know God wants.)
Click here for the young learner’s lesson
Videos (Click on the words or url)
John 15:9-17 (Love One Another) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qk4yMXtzYOs
Lumo-Gospel of John Chapter 15:1-7 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb-KNNA8crk
Love One Another (John 15:12-13) – Song Demonstration - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tIM4ngQhYQ
Activities:
DIY Recycled Valentine Seed Cards with Flower Paper Hearts - https://jamonkey.com/diy-recycled-seed-paper-heart-valentines/?ref=pcrorganicgglunkwn&prid=pcseogglunkwn
What you will need
- Paper or Colored Paper
- Food Coloring if you don’t have colored paper
- Thin Seed they used Black-Eyed Susan’s
- Valentine
Equipment
- Cookie Cutter
- Screen
- Fan or hairdryer
- Hand Mixer
Crossword Puzzle: https://sermons4kids.com/heart_full_of_joy_crossword.htm?fromSermonId=507
Decoder: https://sermons4kids.com/love_one_another_decoder.htm?fromSermonId=506
Word Search: https://thewordsearch.com/puzzle/2359062/abide-in-my-love/
Activity: Take a large sheet of paper and make three columns. Label the first one: LOVE as in ‘I like this.’ The second column: LOVE as in ‘because God loves this person’; the third column: LOVE as in ‘I REALLY LOVE.’
Here are three examples: (For instance: First Column: Latte with whipped cream. Second Column: The person at my work who puts me down. Third Column: my mother.) Make three columns on your sheet of paper, one for each of the category. Write at least 7 items for each of the columns.
Prayer: O God, you have prepared for those who love you such good things as surpass our understanding: Pour into our hearts such love towards you, that we, loving you in all things and above all things, may obtain your promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
