Our Seeing and Serving

Matthew 6:22-24

(NOTE:  Allow 30-90 seconds after clicking the START-arrow or Download button for recording to begin.)

Our Seeing and Serving -- Lonnie Bell
Sermon Series:  The Sermon on the Mount
Matthew 6:22-24
3 September 2017

Deep Sheet: Sermon Study Questions
1.  How and why is the Sermon on the Mount so convicting? In what ways have Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount most challenged you?
2.  What does it mean to have an evil eye? What do you see when you look out into the world? (Psalm 119:10, 15; Proverbs 28:22; 23:6-7; 22:9)
3.  Why should we care about the condition of our eyes? In other words, what does Jesus say about the effect of having an evil eye? (Cf. James 3:6)
4.  What would you say is the main objective of your life? Take some time to confess specific ways that the Holy Spirit has convicted you with regard to your storing, seeing and serving (vv. 19-24).
5.  How does this discussion of slavery bring us back to Christ’s redeeming work at the cross? What does it practically mean to be Christ’s slave? (1 Timothy 6:10; Luke 14:26; Titus 2:14)

Assessing Our Treasure

Matthew 6:19-21

(NOTE:  Allow 30-90 seconds after clicking the START-arrow or Download button for recording to begin.)

Assessing Our Treasure -- Lonnie Bell
Sermon Series:  The Sermon on the Mount
Matthew 6.19-21
27 August 2017

Deep Sheet: Sermon Study Questions
1.  What are heavenly treasures, and what are some practical ways that we can pursue and gather them? (Luke 12:13-21; 1 Timothy 6:17-19)
2.   How does laying up treasures in heaven flow out of faith and hope? (Hebrews 11:6).
3.   What is the main contrast that Jesus makes in vv. 19-20, and what images does he use to convey this contrast? (James 5:1-3)
4.   In what ways have you personally experienced earthly treasures as corruptible, perishable, and temporary?
5.   Consider the following questions as you think about your own treasure: What occupies your thoughts when you have nothing else to do? What fills your daydreaming and worrying? What are you most terrified of losing?
6.   How does what we treasure both come out of and shape our hearts?

Righteous Religion

Matthew 6:1

(NOTE: Allow 30-60 seconds after clicking the START-arrow for recording to begin.)

Righteous Religion -- Lonnie Bell
Sermon Series: The Sermon on the Mount
Matthew 6:1
4 June 2017

Deep Sheet: Sermon Study Questions
1.   What do people typically mean when they accept “spirituality” but reject “religion”? What can be problematic about this distinction?
2.   Consider the fact that Jesus presupposes certain practices of righteousness. What role do “disciplines” play in your understanding of the Christian life?
3.   Discuss practices that we can put in place for helping others, relating to God, and mortifying our flesh.
4.   Why does Jesus use the language of caution in this verse? In what ways can practicing our righteousness be dangerous?
5.   How is the behavior described in 5:16 different from what we find in 6:1 as it pertains to doing our deeds before others?|
6.   What is the reward replacement that happens when our practices are “before other people in order to be seen by them”?

Adultery Rightly Understood

Matthew 5:27-30

(NOTE:  Allow 30-60 seconds after clicking the START-arrow for recording to begin.)

Adultery Rightly Understood -- Lonnie Bell
Sermon Series:  The Sermon on the Mount
Matthew 5:27-30
30 April 2017

DEEP SHEET: Sermon Study Questions
1.   Why do we have a tendency to think of adultery as merely external?  What does Jesus have to say about the heart?
2.  How do Jesus’ words bring together the 7th and 10th Commandments (Exodus 20:14, 17)?|
3.  Why should Jesus’ teaching on adultery humble us and draw us to the cross?
4.  How do the eyes both follow and inform the heart?  Discuss the examples of Job (31:1, 9) and David (2 Samuel 11:2-4).
5.  What would it look like for you to make a “covenant with your eyes” (Job 31:1)?  Discuss what it means to avoid repeating, gazing, dwelling, imagining, and pursuing.
6.  Why do these verses represent such a serious indictment of pornography in particular?  Discuss the negative effect of pornography on one’s marriage.
7.  In response to vv. 29-30, what do you need to cut off or dig out of your life in order to protect yourself from the destructive power of sexual sin?  How does Romans 8:13 encourage us to fight without relying on our own strength?