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The #1 Priority of Life!
Mark 12:28-34
(May 17, 2009)
- Life Group Discussion Guide -
OPEN:
1. Are you a goal setter? What process do you use? How successful have you been?
2. If you were ask to write out your philosophy of life in a “paragraph”, where would you begin? What additional thought might you include?
3. What were your thoughts about Charles Hummel’s quote on priorities, “Jesus did not finish all the urgent tasks in Palestine or all the things he would like to do, but He did finish the work God gave him to do. The only alternative to frustration is to be sure we are doing what God wants. (Nothing substitutes for knowing this day, this hour, in this place that we are doing the will of the Father) Then and only then can we think of all the other unfinished tasks with equanimity, and leave them with God.” (Author of the “Tyranny of the Urgent”,” Freedom from the Tyranny of the Urgent”)
DIG:
1. Is it clear to you that God Himself has established clearly our #1 priority of life? (Mark 12:28-34) Is it clear to you that the entire focus of the relationship God wants with us is one of love? (I John 4:7-12) Is it clear to you that love is the same focus of the relationship God wants us to have with each other? (John 15:9-13, 17)
2. What is loves’ relationship to keeping the commands of God? (Matthew 22:40; Mark 12:33; Romans 13:8-10) Is it abundantly clear to you that God desires obedience that grows out of our “love for him”?
3. In what way might we have the propensity to set aside God’s priority to keep our own? (Matthew 15:1-9, Matthew 23:23)
4. What happens to our relationship with God if we miss the fact that, “love is the cornerstone” of all that our relationship with God is? How does that affect our “unity” and “our mission to the lost of the world”?
Reflect / Apply:
1. If the #1 priority of “Love” as established by God is not your/our #1 priority how do you/we begin to change that?
2. If we could get to the point that “Love” as desired by God is our greatest motivation- How would that change our lives?
3. Where will you begin?