Righteousness Rightly Understood

Matthew 7:12

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Righteousness Rightly Understood -- Lonnie Bell
Sermon Series:  The Sermon on the Mount
Matthew 7:12
22 October 2017

Deep Sheet Questions:  Sermon Study Questions
1.  How does this verse relate to previous instruction in the Sermon on the Mount? How does it simplify the Christian life? (Matthew 5:17-20)
2.  How does Jesus’ statement taken in its immediate context mirror the two great commandments in Matthew 22:37-40? (Matthew 7:7-11)
3.  Why are regeneration, adoption, and prayer essential for living out the “Golden Rule”? (Galatians 5:22; Matthew 7:7-11)
4.  How does the Sermon on the Mount push us both towards self and away from self at the same time?
5.  What does it look like to live for the interests of others? (Philippians 2:3-4)
6.  What does it mean that Jesus’ teaching here is positive rather than negative? Why is this way of life more demanding? (Galatians 6:10)

Applying Our Prayer

Matthew 6:9-13

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Applying Our Prayer -- Lonnie Bell
Sermon Series:  The Sermon on the Mount
Matthew 6:9-13
20 August 2017

Deep Sheet: Sermon Study Questions
1.   How has our time spent studying the model prayer most impacted your attitude towards prayer?
2.   In what ways have you applied the structure and content of the model prayer to specific situations or occasions in your life?|
3.   Why is the holiness of church officers (elders and deacons), and all Christians for that matter, important for the hallowing of God’s name?
4.   Why does praying for God’s will to be done lead us to pray for a Bible-saturated life?
5.   How do church officers serve as one of God’s means for providing his people with daily bread?
6.   How do church officers serve as instruments of reconciliation in a local church? (Titus 1:5-11; Acts 6:1-3)
7.   Why do church officers in particular need constant prayer for spiritual protection?

Asking Abba, Part 1

Matthew 6.11-15

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Asking Abba, Part 1 -- Lonnie Bell
Sermon Series:  The Sermon on the Mount
Matthew 6.11-15
23 July 2017

Deep Sheet: Sermon Study Questions:
1.  How has our time spent discussing prayer altered your priorities? Have you
tried using the Lord’s Prayer as a skeleton for your prayers?
2.  What does it look like to really believe that God rules, owns and dispenses?
How does the petition, “Give us this day our daily bread,” force us to
acknowledge that everything we have is “from God”? (Matthew 5:34-35;
Romans 11:36; James 1:17; Genesis 1:1; Psalm 104:10-15; 1 Corinthians 4:7)
3.  What does “bread” symbolize? In what ways do you struggle to believe that
God cares even for your smallest, seemingly insignificant physical needs?
 4.  As we consider how God meets our needs, what does it mean to say that he
does so in his wisdom, in the midst of a fallen world, through our labor, and
through others? (Philippians 4:19; Proverbs 30:8-9; Psalm 34:19; Genesis
3:19; 2 Thessalonians 3:12; Acts 2:45; Romans 12:13; Titus 3:14)
5. How does praying for our “daily” bread keep us from complacency and
worry? In what particular ways have you seen God provide for you and your
family day-by- day? (Exodus 16:4)
6. What does it mean to view our physical needs with a proper, eternal
perspective? How does this petition for daily bread lead us to consider our
spiritual nourishment? (Matthew 6:32-33; John 6:35; Matthew 4:4; 1
Corinthians 10:31)

Adoring Abba, Part 2

Matthew 6:9c-10

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Adoring Abba, Part 2 -- Lonnie Bell
Sermon Series: The Sermon on the Mount
Matthew 6:9c-10
16 July 2017

Deep Sheet: Sermon Study Questions
1.  In what ways have you been most challenged as we’ve discussed the topic of prayer? How has your own self-examination revealed pretentious, mindless, fatherless, Christ-less, self-centered, or infrequent prayers?
2.  Why does the petition “your kingdom come” point to both evangelism and discipleship? (Mark 1:15; Colossians 1:13-14; Matthew 5:3-12; Romans 14:17)
3.  When it comes to the salvation of others, do you really think your prayers matter? To what extent do you think God wants to accomplish his purposes through your prayers?
4.  If the kingdom of God is “a matter…of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17), what does it look like to grow as a kingdom citizen?
5.  Why does praying “your kingdom come” ultimately mean praying for Christ’s return? How might praying “Come, Lord Jesus!” change the way you live the Christian life? (Daniel 2:44; Revelation 22:20)
6.  How can we easily become self-centered in praying “your will be done”? How does the structure of the Lord’s Prayer help us to understand the meaning of this petition?
7.  How does Jesus demonstrate in his own life what it means to pray “your will be done”? (Matthew 26:39; John 4:34)  

Hello, World!

Adoring Abba, Part 1

Matthew 6:9c-10

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Adoring Abba, Part 1 -- Lonnie Bell
Sermon Series:  The Sermon on the Mount
Matthew 6:9c-10
9 July 2017

Deep Sheet: Sermon Study Questions
1.  How does the opening address, “Our Father in heaven,” naturally lead into the first three petitions?
2.  How does beginning with God rather than our own circumstances or experiences provide a more solid foundation and greater confidence in prayer, even when we don’t “feel it”?
3.  How would you briefly describe the meaning of the first petition, “hallowed be your name”? What is God’s “Name”? (Psalm 30:4; Exodus 19:14-16; Exodus 34:5-8; Matthew 1:21)
4.  Discuss the seven implications noted in the sermon for the petition “hallowed be your name”: bowing, centering, knowing, spreading, reflecting, speaking, and depending? (Exodus 34:8; John 5:23; 12:28; 17:1; Habakkuk 2:14; Matthew 5:16; Ecclesiastes 5:2; Matthew 5:3)
5.  In our desire to have greater praise and adoration towards God, what does it look like to be dependent without being passive?

Addressing Abba

Matthew 6:9b

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Addressing Abba -- Lonnie Bell
Sermon Series: The Sermon on the Mount
Matthew 6:9b
2 July 2017

Deep Sheet: Sermon Study Questions
1.   How do we already see God’s fatherliness and heavenliness in the verses leading up to The Lord’s Prayer? (Matthew 6:6, 8)
2.   How does this address – “Our Father in heaven” – instruct us not to pray in isolation? What does it look like to interlace our prayers with intercession?
3.   What does it mean that Jesus Christ is the only unique Son? What is the problem with appropriating God as Father without being mindful of the Son? (John 1:14; 3:35; Luke 1:35; Matthew 11:27)
4.   Why do we say that God is not the Father of every person? What are some symptoms that a Christian has lost sight of the right and privilege of knowing and addressing God as Father? (John 1:12; Galatians 4:5-6)
5.   How does this address call us to readiness and reverence in prayer? What are some signs that we may be dethroning God as we approach him in prayer? (Ecclesiastes 5:2)
6.   What does this address communicate about God’s willingness and ability to meet our needs? (Philippians 4:19; Ephesians 1:3; John 10:29; 1 Peter 5:7)
7.   How does this address also function as a call to holiness? (Matthew 5:48)

Approaching Abba

Matthew 6:7-9a

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Approaching Abba -- Lonnie Bell
The Sermon on the Mount
Matthew 6:7-9a
25 June 2017

Deep Sheet: Sermon Study Questions
1.  How is prayer both assumed and commanded in our passage? Why should prayer be a habitual way of life for the Christian?
2.  Why is prayer the greatest test for spiritual life and health?
3.  What is the “wrong thinking” as well as “thoughtlessness” that Jesus is criticizing in pagan approaches to prayer? Discuss the mindset reflected in the prayers of the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 18:26-29?
4.  How do we love God with our mind in prayer? What does it look like to heap up empty phrases, and how can we avoid it?
5.  Do you find yourself trying to win God’s favor when you pray? Do you think you need to inform him of your needs? How does Jesus’ emphasis on God as our “Father” instruct us?
6.  What does it mean to tailor our prayers to the priorities and purposes of God? How could you practically begin using The Lord’s Prayer as a model, guide or skeleton for your prayers?
7.  When it comes to The Lord’s Prayer, what does it mean that we have a tendency “to invert and then erase”?

Before Whose Eyes

Matthew 6:2-6, 16-18

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Before Whose Eyes -- Lonnie Bell
Sermon Series:  The Sermon on the Mount
Matthew 6:2-6, 16-18
11 June 2017

Deep Sheet:  Sermon Study Questions
1.   In the words of Martyn Lloyd-Jones, why is this passage so “painful” or “uncomfortable”? How does it drive us to Christ?
2.  What are some of the reasons for fasting in the Old Testament? How should Christians think about this practice?
3.  Discuss the examples of showiness and secrecy given by Jesus. How can we be more “secretive” in our religious practice?
4.  Why does the concern for the approval of others when doing good deeds essentially constitute a lie? What is the alternative?
5.  Why does the discussion of rewards ultimately boil down to faith? How is practicing our righteousness before others to be seen by them an act of unbelief?

Loving Like Father

Matthew 5:43-48

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Loving Like Father -- Lonnie Bell
Sermon Series: The Sermon on the Mount
Matthew 5:43-48
28 May 2017

Deep Sheet: Sermon Study Questions
1.  Which of the six examples/illustrations that Jesus gives in vv. 21-48 have most impacted you? In what ways is this final passage (vv. 43-48) climactic?
2.  How did the misinterpretations of the scribes and Pharisees give them a license to hate? Read Romans 1:28-32 and 3:9-20 and discuss the propensity of fallen humanity to hate.
3.  Are there instances in your life where you’ve found it particularly challenging to “love your enemies” (v. 44)? Consider praying for current “enemies” during group prayer time.
4.  Why does praying for our enemies grow our love for them?
5.  What is the purpose that Jesus gives for loving our enemies? In what ways do we see God loving his enemies?
6.  What is the contrast that Jesus makes between the earthly and the heavenly as it pertains to love?
7.  What does it practically look like to pursue perfection (v. 48), and how does this pursuit protect us from both sloth and pride?