1. What do you think it means to be blessed? Who in your life do you consider blessed and why? 
2. Read the conclusion to Jesus’ sermon in Matthew 7:24-27.
   1. What does Jesus intend for us to do with His message? What brings you to that conclusion?
3. Read Matthew 4:23-5:12
   1. Make some observations about this passage (What does the text say?):
      • What do you notice and what are you curious about? 
      • Who is listening to Jesus’ message? 
      • What are the “blessed” promised? 
   2. Make some interpretations (What does the passage mean?)
      • What do you learn about God? 
      • What do you learn about humanity? Why does Jesus give this important message to this group of people? 
      • What does it mean to be blessed according to Jesus? 
      • What kinds of people does Jesus say are blessed? 
   3. Now make some applications (what’s my response?)
      • How are you encouraged, challenged, or convicted by this passage? 
      • What should be our response to this passage? 
      • Are the blessings prescriptive or descriptive? How does that impact how we should respond? 
   4. Read Luke 5:29-32. 
      • Why do you think Jesus goes after the “sick” to invite them into His Kingdom? Why are they the best people to join His team? 
      • Why would it be harder for those living the “good life” (according to the world’s standards) to accept an invitation into the kind of Kingdom Jesus is bringing? 

4.) Two common lies when it comes to Jesus’ invitation to the Kingdom (the gospel), are either: “I don’t need it” (i.e. “I’m a good person and my life is going well, I don’t really need what Jesus is offering”) or “I can’t have it” (i.e. “I’m too bad and what I’ve done for sure disqualifies me. What Jesus did is not enough for my sin”). Do you resonate with either of these lies? If so, why? 

5.) The invitation to the gospel, the Kingdom of God, is for everyone, but we still have to make the decision to accept it and follow Jesus into it. Have you decided to follow Jesus or are you still sitting with His invitation? What makes you answer this way?  

6.) If you haven’t accepted His invitation, what is holding you back? If you have accepted it, are you leveraging your life toward what makes up His Kingdom and who makes up His Kingdom? What’s one way you could move toward living in His upside-down Kingdom more fully? 

Key Scriptures:

Matthew 7:24-27
Matthew 4:23-5:12
Luke 5:29-32

Prayer: 

Intercession: Each person pray for someone they know who is hurting, mourning, in need, overlooked, persecuted, or peacemaking, that they might know they are blessed and that God would use you to show them that. 

Next Steps: 

1. Sit with the Beatitudes this week and ask yourself, “Where am I on this list?”
   1. If you can see yourself in this list, do you believe that you are blessed? If not, ask God to show you how you are blessed and how to trust and follow Jesus more fully. 
   2. If you don’t see yourself in this list, how can you leverage your influence and privilege to pursue and help those who are? 

Families

Hey, families! Here’s a look at what we’re covering with your kids so you can help them continue to grow at home during the week.

THIS WEEK

All month long we are going to be talking about how Jesus defeated sin.

THE BIBLE: 

Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

THE MESSAGE: 

God gives us the power to ignore and defeat sin and choose His way! But we have to remember that God’s way is perfect! Adam and Eve thought they knew what was best, and there are times when we may think we know what is best. But God is the one who created us and has a great plan for our lives. When we have a choice to either sin or do what is right, let’s always choose what is right – because that’s God’s way. And that’s how we get in the ring and knock out sin in our lives!

THE BIG IDEA:

Jesus defeated sin for us!

ASK THIS

Because sometimes you and your kid need a conversation-starter that isn’t, “So . . . how was church?”

What are some ways we can use the Bible to help us defeat sin?

REMEMBER THIS

Talking about sin is not always fun, but it’s so important. We have to know how to recognize sin so we can fight against it. And Jesus knew the power sin could have over our lives. And that’s why He chose to fight sin for us. We may think we don’t have the power to defeat sin, but with Jesus, we have the power to choose the right way, to make better choices, to be kinder to the people around us, and to love God with all of our hearts.

NEXT WEEK

Next week, we’ll explore the story of Cain and Abel and how Cain’s sin ended with him doing something awful to his brother.