Message Series: Through It All
Week 3
Scripture: Matthew 6:5-15
Group Check in:
How is it with your soul?
Prayer Request? Praises?
How has God shown up in your life this week?
Icebreaker:
If you could be famous, what would you want to be famous for?
If you could play any instrument, what would it be and why?
Overview:
What’s this message about? This week, we focused on The Lord's Prayer. The Lord’s Prayer is one of, if not, the most widely known and memorized prayers of the Christian world and possibly the world. Frequent church attenders know it. Infrequent church attenders know it. People who have never been to church somehow seem to know it. Join us this week as we take a deeper look into what Jesus was teaching us about how we should pray.
The Lord's Prayer is not to be used as just a scripted set of words to say, but instead use it as a guide on how to pray. Jesus said, "pray this way," not "pray these words."
God already knows what we need, just like loving parent knows what a child needs before the child knows. We do not need special words to pray to God. He knows.
That first word matters: “our”. When we pray, we pray to a God who loves more than just me, myself, and I. The word Jesus used for Father implies an affectionate, familial relationship. We pray not to a cold and distant deity. We pray to a Father who knows us and loves us.
We pray to God who is both transcendent and immanent; who is both above us and near us; who is both beyond us and with us. God is infinite and intimate at the same time. God is holy, set apart, “not of the same stuff” that we are. And God calls his people to live holy lives: “in the world, not of the world”.
The first request of the Lord’s Prayer is for God’s authority to transform the lives of all people. The second request is for basic daily needs... something that all people have in common. This is a reminder to trust God for what we need without worry.
Jesus spoke several times about forgiveness. He made a connection between being forgiven and being forgiving.
We can’t experience grace without giving grace; and we can’t give grace without experiencing grace. We forgive as we are forgiven, and we are forgiven as we forgive. Jesus was not talking about two spiritual transactions; he was teaching about one spiritual condition.
Jesus taught us to pray for God’s provision. He is teaching us to pray for God’s protection and guidance. When life is hard, remember that Jesus himself endured everything that we endure, and he brings compassion and understanding to us.
Discussion Questions:
How do you define prayer?
When you pray for God's will to be done in the world and in your life do you really mean it? What does it look like for God's will to be done in your life?
How does it encourage and fuel your prayers to know that we are praying to our Father in Heaven?
Read Matthew 6:5-8 together. Look at verse 5 and 6. What do you hear Jesus saying?
What does it mean to "hallow" the Father's name? How many names for God can you come up with from Scripture? List them.
What does it mean to fully trust in God for everything? How difficult is that for you?
What does it mean to "forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors"? What is the relationship between our forgiveness of others and God's forgiveness of us?
What does it mean to forgive?
Pastor Sean encouraged us at the end of the message to say the Lord's Prayer in another version, written for children (see below). Today, write your own version of the Lord's prayer and share it with one another.
Example: "Our Father in heaven, you are awesome! Show us who you are and how you want us to be. Make earth more like heaven. Please give us what we need to keep going each day. Help us when we are wrong and clean us up on the inside. Help us to let other people off and move on. Keep us from bad stuff. You’re in charge! You’re strong and powerful and always there. Forever! Amen."
Stay updated on upcoming PTCUMC Adult Group Events/Opportunities at PTCUMC.ORG/GROUPS
