TODAY:

Sermon on the Mount: Part 5 - Keeping Focused on God

BIG IDEA:

Our spiritual practices are authentic when God is at the center

SCRIPTURES:

Matthew 6:1-8 & 16-18, Matthew 5:14-16, 2 Corinthians 9:7, Proverbs 15:3, Psalms 73:25-26, 2 Corinthians 5:17

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

Q: What are activities, practices, or habits that you participate in that could be considered spiritual disciplines?

Q: How do you feel about the idea that “fake stuff” can distract us from focusing on God? How are you experiencing that in your spiritual practices?

Q: How do the Scriptures/concepts from this week help you grow as a disciple who loves God, loves people & serves the world (lives on incarnational mission) in everyday life?

Q: Based on these Scriptures, how can you move from unbelief to belief, from just knowing to actually doing in your life?

Be With Jesus / Love God (UP)...

Q: How does fixing our eyes on Jesus remove our own pride?

Q: What difficulties do you currently experience with prayer and have you overcome any difficulties with prayer?

Q: What do you think of when you hear “your Father in Heaven sees you”? Is that comforting or is there discomfort in that?

Become Like Jesus / Love People (IN)...

Q: What are some of your motivations when giving to the needy or praying in public? How do these compare to Christ’s teachings?

Q: When giving to others, how can you ensure that you are doing it with the proper motivation?

Do What Jesus Did / Serve the World (OUT)...

Q: What are some ways that the world sees the Church as hypocrites? How can these be remedied?

Q: In what ways does practicing our spirituality according to Christ’s teachings draw others to the Gospel?

NOTES & QUOTES:

“He [Christ] reminds us to fix our eye on God: for this banishes from our minds, and will utterly destroy, all vain-glory” John Calvin

“Dear God, I can not love you the way I want to. You are the slim crescent moon that I see and my self is the earth’s shadow that keeps me from seeing all the moon... what I am afraid of, dear God, is that my self shadow will grow so large that it blocks the whole moon ... I do not know you God because I am in the way” Flannery O’Connor

ACTION STEPS

1) Give in secret

2) Pray in secret

3) Fast in secret