Here are some questions based on last Sunday’s sermon text (Matthew 7:1-6), in case they’re helpful to you for personal growth or group discussion… Read the parallel passage in Luke 6:37-42. Jesus is warning us away from self-righteous hypocrisy and the condemnation of other sinners. He is advocating for a confessional and empathetic approach to addressing… Read more »

“Even when sin and misunderstanding burden the communal life, is not the sinning brother still a brother, with whom I, too, stand under the Word of Christ? Will not his sin be a constant occasion for me to give thanks that both of us may live in the forgiving love of God in Jesus Christ?… Read more »

Here are some questions based on last Sunday’s sermon text (Matthew 6:25-34), in case they’re helpful to you for personal growth or group discussion… Anxiety is fear about the future. We are anxious because we seek to control our lives and manage the future to provide for our own needs. We feel we must fend for… Read more »

(SERMONS ARE AVAILABLE HERE) Matthew uses the word “kingdom” more than 50 times in his Gospel as he records the life and teachings of Jesus. Jesus preached “the gospel (good news) of the kingdom” (Matthew 4:23). He spoke of the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God. The Hebrew Scriptures had foretold that he would… Read more »

Here are some questions based on last Sunday’s sermon text (Matthew 6:16-18), in case they’re helpful to you for personal growth or group discussion… Fasting is abstaining from food for spiritual purposes. It is something Jesus expects his disciples will do, and he connects it especially to mourning the absence of a dearly loved one (Matthew… Read more »

Here are some questions based on last Sunday’s sermon text (Matthew 6:5-15), in case they’re helpful to you for personal growth or group discussion… [8-9] “Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” We can wonder, why pray then? When we wonder this, it suggests that we have a transactional view of prayer, rather… Read more »

Here are some questions based on last Sunday’s sermon text (Matthew 6:1-4), in case they’re helpful to you for personal growth or group discussion… “Hypocrites” are those who put on a mask and pretend to be someone other than who they truly are. Jesus warns that practicing righteousness in order to be seen by others is… Read more »

Here are some questions based on last Sunday’s sermon text (Matthew 5:38-48), in case they’re helpful to you for personal growth or group discussion… Sinners are self-interested. When someone else acts in his or her own self-interest in a way that collides with your self-interest and causes you harm, that person has become an enemy. Can… Read more »