The 3 Most Important Relationships You Need

Icebreakers:

1. Do you prefer to spend time with people or time by yourself?

2. Think back to Friday March 13, the day before the quarantine. On a scale of 1 to 5 how excited were you for the idea of a school break? 1 being sad and 5 being excited

3. Skip ahead to now. Are you kind of ready for this all to be over? For things to get back to “normal”? I know we still have a road ahead of us so I thought we would take some time to talk about the importance of not being too isolated.

4. If I was to give you a 1 day pass where all this was done, what is something realistic you would do on that 1 day pass?

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*There are three relationships vital in our life.

1. The most important relationship in your life is your relationship with God.

Question: What does your relationship with God look like? Do you spend time with him everyday? What evidence do you have in your life that God is #1?

Genesis 2:15-22 (NLT)

15 The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. 16 But the Lord God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden— 17 except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.”

18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.” 19 So the Lord God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one. 20 He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals. But still there was no helper just right for him.

21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man’s rib] and closed up the opening. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man.

*What do you take away from this?

1. God loves you so much he saw your needs and met them before you knew you had needs.

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2. The second most important relationship in your life is one with God’s people.

*Everybody needs somebody.

*The difference between who you are and where God wants you to be depends on having the right people in your life.

Ephesians 2:19-22

19 You Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens with everyone else who belongs to the family of God. 20 You are like a building with the apostles and prophets as the foundation and with Christ as the most important stone. 21 Christ is the one who holds the building together and makes it grow into a holy temple for the Lord. 22 And you are part of that building Christ has built as a place for God’s own Spirit to live.

Questions:

1. Has a connection with another person ever changed your life?

2. Scripture tells us we need godly friends and wise friends. We need friends who will cause us to grow.

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3. Third most important relationship in your life is the one you give to others.

*Everybody needs somebody. Somebody needs you

Hebrews 10:24-25 (NLT)

24 Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

*So here’s the challenge. “Let us think of ways to motivate one another…”

Question: How can you motivate or encourage the people in your life?

What’s a simple thing you could do to let someone else know they are not alone?

* Look at verse 25… the word “encourage”. The passage says that we are to continue to encourage each other daily.

*That word in Greek is parakalountes. That word comes from John 14:16-17

John 14:16-17 (NLT)

16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, (or Parakleton) who will never leave you. This is confirmation that God did not create us to be alone… And who is the Advocate, the Parakleton? Keep reading, 17 He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you.

Question:

1. What relationship do you offer to people?

2. Will being friends with you grow someone closer to God?

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Closing:

Start praying. Be bold and pray with power.

Father, thank You for giving us relationships. Thank You for

reaching out to have a relationship with us, and thank You

for encouraging us in our relationships with others. Help us

value these relationships like You do. Help us be the kind of friend that other people need to grow closer to you with.

Apply:

· Start doing. Commit to a step and live it out this week.

· Think of a way you can lean into your relationship with God or God’s people this week. Then make it happen.