30 Oct Discussion Guide: (IN) BREAKING Week 11
Prayer
Take the first 10 minutes of your time together to listen to what God is doing in one another’s lives and pray for any specific needs people in your group may have.
Today we continue our series titled (In) Breaking. We will be working through the gospel of Matthew and learning how God desires to have His Kingdom come, and His will be done, in our lives as in Heaven. God wants to break into our hearts, our emotions, our actions, our existence so that we might know Him, and be known by Him, in ways that we will never be the same.
Discussion Questions
Who is the best person you know personally? Why do you say that about that person?
E. Stanley Jones, Christ of the Mount
“The Sermon on the Mount seems dangerous. It challenges the whole underlying conception on which modern society is built. It would replace it by a new conception, animate it with a new motive, and turn it toward a new goal.”
What would the world look like if everyone lived the “Beatitudes?”
Matthew 5:3-12
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
When you read the Beatitudes, and the rest of the sermon on the mount, how does it make you feel? Why?
If the sermon on the mount is Jesus’ attempt at telling us how we have to live in order to gain eternal life, how would you say most people are doing?
How would you say you are doing?
How would you say Jesus did? How does that help us?
How, then, does the Gospel enable us to not be crushed under the weight of this sermon, but to actually love it in the depths of our souls?
Closing Thought
Which “Beatitude” would you say you struggle with the most? How can we, as a community, encourage you and serve you in that?