Joyful journey resources
Memory Verse:
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Spiritual Growth Tool:
Spiritual Growth Tool: January 26th
Click the image above to see the Bible reading and prayer prompts!
Tools:
For You This Week
To Try This Week:
Try listening to (The Dwell App or YouVersion have audio options.) or reading this week’s Scriptures out loud. Repeat it a few times throughout your day (in the car, while preparing a meal, etc..) to saturate your day with God’s Word. Let Scripture spill out of your devotional time to touch the other parts of your day.
This Week’s Reading:
M: Matt. 25, Gen. 43-45, Psalm 10
T: Matt. 26, Gen. 46-48, Proverbs 7
W: Matt. 27, Gen. 49-50, Psalm 11
Th: Matt. 28, Mark 1, Exodus 1-4, Proverbs 8
F: Mark 2-3, Exodus 5-7, Psalm 12
For Your Spiritual Growth Partner this week
When you meet with your Spiritual Growth Partner(s), use these four pillars to make the best use of your time together:
- Open your time in prayer: Pray Psalm 86:11 “Unite my heart to fear your name” as you open your time together in God’s Word.
- Look to the Word: What verses did you highlight this week in the reading? How do these verses guide how you live?
- Process the sermon: Use these two focus questions –
- Last week, Matt’s sermon emphasized that the world is very different from the Kingdom of God. How does this week’s passage (Matthew 5:17-20) continue that thought? Review what Dave said about what people were expecting from Jesus vs what they were getting.
- Have you accepted Jesus as God’s first, only and best answer for you and your brokenness? How does that reality play out in your every day life? What other “answers” (identity, habits, successes or people) do you tend to turn to deal with your brokenness instead of Jesus?
- Faithfully Follow: Use the other resources on this page to choose an application that aligns with what you are learning about God and about yourself.
For Your Group this week
- Ice Breaker:
- Share about a time when you had very clear expectations of something that turned out very differently from what you expected in the end. Think about a vacation, a meal you ordered, etc…
- Discussion Questions:
- Last week, Matt’s sermon emphasized that the world is very different from the Kingdom of God. How does this week’s passage (Matthew 5:17-20) continue that thought? Review what Dave said about what people were expecting from Jesus vs what they were getting.
- How does Jesus fulfill the Law and the Prophets?
- When Jesus refers to the Law and the Prophets, what is he referring to? (Hint: See Luke 24:27)
- Where are other places in Matthew that connect Jesus’s actions with what the Old Testament says about what the Messiah will do or be (Hint: Look for the prophecies Jesus says are being fulfilled.) What are some of the ways Jesus fulfilled the Law and the Prophets? (For ideas, see Isa 53, Psalm 22, Jeremiah 31:33-34)
- How does understanding this about the Old Testament help us with reading it and understanding it and applying it?
- From the reading in Matthew, think of times when Jesus is critical of the Pharisees for thinking too highly of themselves or the law. How does that support what Jesus is saying in Matthew 5:17-20?
- What is self-righteousness?
- What does a disciple’s life of righteousness look like?
- What was there about the scribes and Pharisees lives and teaching that needed to be exceeded? Look at Luke 18:9-14 and discuss the difference shown there between the Pharisee and the tax collector. How does this help us see what it means to be a true disciple of Jesus?
- Have you accepted Jesus as God’s first, only and best answer for you and your brokenness? How does that reality play out in your every day life? What other “answers” (identity, habits, successes or people) do you tend to turn to deal with your brokenness instead of Jesus?
- Last week, Matt’s sermon emphasized that the world is very different from the Kingdom of God. How does this week’s passage (Matthew 5:17-20) continue that thought? Review what Dave said about what people were expecting from Jesus vs what they were getting.
For Your Family this week
Dinnertime Discussion:
When did you first realize that Jesus was the first, best and only answer for your brokenness? What led you to accept him as your Savior?
Songs for encouragement:
Gospel in Everyday Life:
Jesus tells his listeners to rethink their expectations of the kingdom he is bringing (“Do not think…”). What’s something in your life where Jesus is asking you to rethink your expectations or see a situation through a more kingdom-like lens? How will you seek to do that in the next few days?
Developing Disciplines:
Boil the storyline of the Bible in 4-8 words or phrases which summarize its teaching and the reality of the brokenness of the world and God’s solution.
For further study:
- Studies in the Sermon on the Mount by D Martyn Lloyd-Jones