Before We Get Started

For our discussion today, we will be using the sermon series discussion guides. If you would like to follow along you can access this discussion guide on the website at mosaicchurchaustin.com and then select “community group resources” in the menu options.

Prayer

Because the primary goal of our time together is to establish relationships and learn how to walk with one another in all that God has called us to be and do, we’d like to begin by praying for one another. So, does anyone have anything you’d like us to pray for or anything to share regarding how you’ve seen God moving in your life that we can celebrate together?

This Week’s Topic

The Gospel of the Kingdom

Jesus’s Kingdom, as He himself taught, is not of this world. While His Kingdom influences and transforms people and structures, fundamentally, it does not belong to an individual or ideology. His is the kingdom and the power and the glory, as he taught us to remember in prayer.

Today’s Topic

Becoming Human

Discussion Questions

A Private Life

Matthew 6:1-4

Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

“So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

 

Romans 12:2

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

 

Matthew 16:26

What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?

 

Why do we so easily fall into the trap of seeking approval form other people?

What is really at stake when we seek to garner the praise and admiration of other people?

What part do vulnerability and courage play in finding righteous motivations in our lives?

A Prayerful Life

Matthew 6:9-13

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

10 your kingdom come,

your will be done,

    on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,

    as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,[a]

    but deliver us from the evil one.

For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

Eugene H. Peterson, Tell It Slant

Prayer is a refusal to live as an outsider to my God and my own soul.

How does the Lord’s Prayer model connecting with God directly?

What practices or perspectives can help us “hallow” God’s name daily?

Do you find it difficult to pray? Why or why not?

A Profitable Life

Hebrews 11:6

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

 

Joni Eareckson Tada

Our greatest reward in life is to walk closely with God, trusting His guidance and experiencing His presence in all circumstances.

 

How are having faith and pleasing God connected?

Have you ever received a reward from someone? What was that like?

If you receive one specific reward from God in this life, what would you hope to receive?

Closing Thought

Wendell Berry

This, I thought, is what is meant by ‘thy will be done’ in the Lord’s Prayer, which I had prayed time and again without thinking about it. It means that your will and God’s will may not be the same. It means there’s a good possibility that you won’t get what you pray for. It means that in spite of your prayers you are going to suffer.

 

Take time to pray together as a group. Ask God to prune away your selfish motivations, connect you with his heart for the world, and reward you with more of himself.