LOVE DOES : Believes All Things H HIGHLIGHT: 1 Corinthians 13:7b (ESV); Acts 9:1-19 (NLT) LEADER: Below are excerpts from the overall passage for use with the APPLICATION and RESPOND. It will be beneficial for the group to read the whole passage to understand the entire context. 1 Corinthians 13:7b 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Acts 9:1-19 9 Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord s followers. So he went to the high priest. 2 He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there. He wanted to bring them both men and women back to Jerusalem in chains. 3 As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me? 5 Who are you, lord? Saul asked. And the voice replied, I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! 6 Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do. 7 The men with Saul stood speechless, for they heard the sound of someone s voice but saw no one! 8 Saul picked himself up off the ground, but when he opened his eyes he was blind. So his companions led him by the hand to Damascus. 9 He remained there blind for three days and did not eat or drink. 10 Now there was a believer in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision, calling, Ananias! Yes, Lord! he replied. 11 The Lord said, Go over to Straight Street, to the house of Judas. When you get there, ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying to me right now. 12 I have shown him a vision of a man named Ananias coming in and laying hands on Page! 1 of! 5
him so he can see again. 13 But Lord, exclaimed Ananias, I ve heard many people talk about the terrible things this man has done to the believers in Jerusalem! 14 And he is authorized by the leading priests to arrest everyone who calls upon your name. 15 But the Lord said, Go, for Saul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles and to kings, as well as to the people of Israel. 16 And I will show him how much he must suffer for my name s sake. 17 So Ananias went and found Saul. He laid his hands on him and said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. 18 Instantly something like scales fell from Saul s eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized. 19 Afterward he ate some food and regained his strength. Saul stayed with the believers in Damascus for a few days. E EXPLAIN LEADER: Discuss the meaning of the text. In this section, you are trying to explain what the text says, not apply it to your life. Feel free to use any of the Explain materials to guide discussion as it is needed or to expound on a certain area of the text as it comes up during your Life Group time, the purpose of this section is to deepen everyone s understanding of the Word. 1 Corinthians 13:7b (ESV) Last week Paul pictured love as bearing all things. He adds to the summary this week: love believes all things. This is not to say that love is gullible falls for anything and everything. But it is to say that love-mastered people are not suspicious people always suspecting the worst. Love walks into all situations with its eyes open, but also with its heart open to believe that God can do [and does] far more than what we can imagine in any situation (Eph. 3:20). Through the power of the Holy Spirit within us we can choose not to focus on the negative (circumstances or people), but to focus on how God wants to use us to redeem the situation. Biblical love is open and accepting to that possibility. It is willing to take the risk of being hurt (even again) because of the love we have received from Jesus. The NLT probably comes closest to hitting the mark on this: Love never loses faith. So no matter how dark the night, how wild the storm, or how strong the feeling of separation from the Father, love holds on until it can say, Father, into Your hands I commit this, and trust You with it (see 1 Peter 2:21-23). It never loses faith. Acts 9:1-19 (NLT) These verses replay Saul-turned-Paul s conversion experience on the road to Damascus (in chapters 22 and 26 we have that experience in Paul s own words). Paul s passion to waste the church (dissolve it) was white hot. The NIV and ESV retain the word still. No matter what obstacles mental or physical he confronted, he never slowed in his eagerness to kill the Lord s followers. Paul s reputation reached Damascus long before he did. There had been Page! 2 of! 5
much talk about the terrible things this man had done, and that he was coming to Damascus to arrest everyone who called on the Lord s name. Most of us cannot begin to imagine the agitation and angst that swept through Ananias when the Lord said to him, Go to the house of Judas and ask for Saul of Tarsus. I have shown him that you are coming to lay hands on him and restore his sight that I took from him three days ago. He is my chosen instrument to take My message to the world. You see, Saul/Paul was not just an unreasonable neighbor who lets his dog crap in your yard, or calls you at the most unreasonable time of night to complain that 5 leaves off your tree blew into his yard because he doesn t like your religion. Saul/Paul is a hit-man. Followers of Jesus are his target. And no one is ready to stop him except JESUS and the man he chooses. Ananias is not an apostle. He is not one of the twelve disciples. He is just one of the ordinary people. He s probably thinking that the Lord got the wrong address. But God knew exactly what He was doing. All Ananias had to do (all any of us has to do when God points His finger at us) was to keep faith that God knew what He was doing, and to believe that God s power is greater than the sin of man like Saul/Paul. That kind of adventure can be owned by any love-filled person. You see, LOVE DOES! A APPLY LEADER: Be comfortable with some silence as people think back to the sermon or reread the text. If no one has an answer, be prepared to share what challenged you. 1. What stuck out to you in what you heard in the sermon or read in the text? 2. Love believes all things (ESV) or never loses faith (NLT). In what kinds of circumstances are you tempted to lose faith? Page! 3 of! 5
3. Ananias is a big part of the story of Saul s conversion. What qualified Ananias to be used by God? 4. Saul had to suffer for Christ s name sake (Acts 9:16). After Saul s conversion he became a minister to the Gentiles. How did the Apostle Paul demonstrate, throughout his ministry to the Gentiles, that love believes all things? R RESPOND 1. In Saul s time, to be a Christian was a scary thing. People like Ananias had been praying for a solution to the one who was persecuting them and wanted to harm them (Saul). It took Ananias believing all things are possible, even God changing the very one they were afraid of from the most outspoken protestor of Jesus to the most outspoken declarer of Jesus and his Kingdom. He was able to love Saul because he never lost faith in God s ability to change Saul. Where have you, like Ananias, believed all things in a situation that seemed unbelievable? Where do you need to not lose faith in God s ability? 2. James 1:2-4 says, Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith its tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. Page! 4 of! 5
Where have you suffered for Christ s name sake (Acts 9:16) in your own life? Where are you currently suffering? How have you seen your suffering as an opportunity for great joy? Instead of complaining about suffering in your life, ask God to show you how to see things through the lens of it s an opportunity for great joy! Take time to pray this over specific instances in your life. Page! 5 of! 5