MATTHEW

Pray:
Take a couple of minutes to pray together as a group. Ask for wisdom and for the Holy Spirit to guide & teach us as we seek to learn from scripture and make practical applications for our lives. 

Bible Project Video (10 minutes)
Click here to watch

Discussion: 

1. Have you read the book of Matthew before?
   For those who have read it, what are your feelings about it? (Love it, confused by it…) 
2. What stood out to you in the Bible Project video?
3. Someone read Matthew 3v1-3. What is the Kingdom of Heaven?
4. What does John the baptist mean when he says that the Kingdom of Heaven is near?
5. What are some implications of the Kingdom of Heaven being near/being at hand?
6. Will you commit to reading Matthew with new eyes?

Pray:
Take a few moments to share needs and pray for one another. 

Pray:
Take a couple of minutes to pray together as a group.
Ask for wisdom and for the Holy Spirit to guide & teach us as we seek to learn from scripture and make practical applications for our lives.

Bible Project Video (10 minutes)
Click here to watch

Discussion: (don’t feel like you have to go through all of these)

What stood out to you in this video?

On Sunday, Brent talked about a spiritual pattern that we are going to see in the scripture. Where have you seen this pattern in your life or in the world?

Discuss each step of the pattern- what stands out to you as true? What area are you struggling with? Where would you like to grow?

Step 1: God has established your Identity
Step 2: Evil is actively trying to destroy you
Step 3: Resistance and Submission are your weapons
Step 4: Freedom and Victory are on the other side

Read Scripture: Matthew 3:16 - Matthew 4:11
Read the passage out loud twice. Feel free to read different versions.

As a group, retell the story as it was written. (We want to be able to retell the passage to others during the week.)

1. How do you see the above steps playing out in the passage?
2. What does this passage teach us about God?
3. What does this passage teach us about people?
4. What should we do this week in response to this passage?
5. What questions are we curious about in this passage?
6. What spiritual insights should we dig into a bit more?
7. Who could we share this passage with this week?

Pray:
Take a few moments to share needs and pray for one another.

Pray:
Take a couple of minutes to pray together as a group.
Ask for wisdom and for the Holy Spirit to guide & teach us as we seek to learn from scripture and make practical applications for our lives.

Video:
Click HERE to watch

Discussion: (don’t feel like you have to go through all of these)

1) How is the Jesus-style revolution described in Matthew different from most revolutions?

2) What does it mean for someone to be pure in heart, and why is it important for Jesus' followers to be pure in heart?

3) What does it mean to be a peacemaker, according to Jesus?

4) How are Jesus’ followers similar to Israel’s prophets?

5) What kinds of attitudes and actions do they share?

Read Scripture:
Read Matt 5v1-13 out loud twice. Feel free to read different versions.

What difference do the Beatitudes make to people outside the church?

Pray:
Take a few moments to share needs and pray for one another.

Pray:
Take a couple of minutes to pray together as a group.
Ask for wisdom and for the Holy Spirit to guide & teach us as we seek to learn from scripture and make practical applications for our lives.
 

Read Scripture | Matthew 7:24-27
Read passage out loud twice. Feel free to read different versions.

As a group, retell the story from memory without looking at the Bible. (We want to be able to retell the passage to others during the week.)

VIDEO
Click HERE to watch

Read Scripture | Matthew 7:24-27

Reread the scripture.
Review the Sermon on the Mount, read it all if you want, or choose some sections. Spend some time digging into sections of what Jesus is teaching.

Discussion: (don’t feel like you have to go through all of these)

1) Jesus opens his sermon with descriptions of people who are already experiencing the good life of God's Kingdom. What might this tell us about God's nature?
2) What is one teaching in the Sermon on the Mount that stands out to you and why? What do you need to discuss and process with the group?
3) Rather than speaking from the temple to the most powerful Israelites in Jerusalem, Jesus heads into rural Galilee to speak with oppressed, powerless people. Why might he have chosen this location and these people?
4) Take some time to reflect on any themes or ideas that stood out to you from the video.
Why does Jesus end the sermon on the mount the way he does with the story of the houses being built on rock or sand?
5) What do we learn about God or Jesus or ourselves based on this teaching?
6) What should we DO with what we learned this week?

Pray:
Take time to share needs and pray for one another.

Pray:
Take a couple of minutes to pray together as a group.
Ask for wisdom and for the Holy Spirit to guide & teach us as we seek to learn from scripture and make practical applications for our lives.

Opening Question/Discussion:

Share about a place that is special to you.  Why is it special? What happened there? 

Why do locations matter to us so much?

Read Scripture - MATTHEW 28:16-20

Read the passage out loud twice. Feel free to read different versions.

As a group, retell the story from memory without looking at Bible.
(We want to be able to retell the passage to others during the week.)

Discussion: (don’t feel like you have to go through all of these)

1. What stood out to you in this passage?  Anything new? Interesting?
2. What is the location of the passage?  Why does the location matter?
3.  If 85% of Jesus’ teaching and ministry happened in Galilee, why is it important for Jesus to bring them back there post-resurrection?
4. What is the significance of the Commission that Jesus gives?
5. Look up the word “Teach” in the original Greek.  It is different than our word for “teach”.  Greek word for teach implies a combination of learning and teaching.
6. How does remembering help us in our life journey now?
7. Where do we hang out normally?  What locations might pull us out of our comfort zone to connect with people that might not know Jesus?  
8. What might Jesus be inviting us to this week as we consider where we are during the week and why we are there?

Pass out Life Map Activity and invite your group to fill it out and share their story with the group sometime in the coming weeks. 

Or share with a friend or family member. 

Pray:
Take time to share needs and pray for one another.

Pray:
Take a couple of minutes to pray together as a group.
Ask for wisdom and for the Holy Spirit to guide & teach us as we seek to learn from scripture and make practical applications for our lives.

Read Scripture - Matthew 8:1-17

Watch the VIDEO: Bible Project, “Holiness” (Optional)

Discussion: (don’t feel like you have to go through all of these)

1. As a group, identify some of the barriers in our society that people encounter.
2. What are some spiritual barriers that hold people back from engaging in the Kingdom of God?
3. What do all 3 of the healing miracles have in common?  Who is being healed and how do they either connect or remain disconnected with the Jewish culture?
4. What do you notice that is different between all 3 of the healing miracles?
5. What are some things you have learned about simplicity during this series or the past few weeks?
6. How does the scripture we read connect with our spiritual practice of simplicity?

Pray:
Take time to share needs and pray for one another.

Pray:
Take a couple of minutes to pray together as a group.
Ask for wisdom and for the Holy Spirit to guide & teach us as we seek to learn from scripture and make practical applications for our lives.

Read Scripture - Matthew 9 (whole chapter—there is a lot!)
Read the passage out loud, taking turns reading.

Discussion: (don’t feel like you have to go through all of these)

1. As a group, look at the reactions to Jesus’ ministry in each section. Talk through why Jesus was open about his ministry in certain locations and closed off about it in others.
2. On Sunday, we talked about two oppositions in the text that worked against Jesus’ ministry— Cynicism and addiction to comfort. Where do we see these in Matthew 9?
3. Who is the primary source of the opposition? What is the reason/motivation for it?
4. The religious leaders were cynical of Jesus and His ministry, forgetting who Jesus was and what He was capable of. Take time to talk about cynicism that we might experience in our own lives. Where does it come from? How can we combat it in healthy ways?
5. The religious leaders were unwilling to step out of their comfort zone to even consider that Jesus might be the Messiah. They weren’t comfortable with the ways Jesus was doing ministry. What was Jesus doing that made them uncomfortable?
6. Take time to talk about our own comfort zones—where is God inviting us to get uncomfortable so we can partner with Him to pursue people?
7. We redefined evangelism to include “being an active reflection of the good news.” What does this look like in our own lives? What do we think is our responsibility when it comes to sharing the “good news” and how can we do this in the best way, utilizing our own gifts & passions?

Pray:
Take time to share needs and pray for one another.

Pray:
Take a couple of minutes to pray together as a group.
Ask for wisdom and for the Holy Spirit to guide & teach us as we seek to learn from scripture and make practical applications for our lives.

 Watch the Bible Project video on Matthew 1-13:  https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/matthew-1-13/

What do you notice in the video?
What stands out to you?
What do you learn about the overall purpose of the beginning of Matthew?
How does this help you understand Matthew 10 and what we have been learning so far in Matthew?

Read Scripture - Matthew 10

Read the passage out loud together.  

Discussion: (don’t feel like you have to go through all of these)

1. What sections stand out to you? 
2. What is Jesus challenging his disciples to do based on what has happened in Matthew 8 & 9. 
3. Have you ever had a formal mentor or gone through a formal discipleship process? What did it teach you? What did you learn? 
4. What would you consider to be the foundations of good discipleship?
5. How would you define discipleship?
6. What do we see Jesus doing for his disciples in this scripture? 
7. Does anything stand out to you in scripture about what the disciples need to do or not do?  Why do you think Jesus says these things?
8. As you go through the reading of Matthew 10, what questions do you have? What things did you notice that stood out? What challenges you most personally today?
9. What personal connections do you make with Matthew 10 that will help you become a better disciple or follower of Jesus today?

Pray:
Take time to share needs and pray for one another.

Pray:
Take a couple of minutes to pray together as a group. Ask for wisdom and for the Holy Spirit to guide & teach us as we seek to learn from scripture and make practical applications for our lives.

Watch the Bible Project video, On Earth as it is in Heaven:  https://youtu.be/Zy2AQlK6C5k?si=GfHOtfSp6A0Opq7_

Read Scripture - Matthew 11:1-11

Read the passage out loud together.  

Discussion: (don’t feel like you have to go through all of these)

1. Is there anything we can deduce from the fact that John the Baptist questions whether or not Jesus is the one?

2. What are some expectations John the Baptist has of the Messiah? (Refer to Matt 3:1-12)

3. At this point in Jesus' ministry, is Jesus fulfilling John's expectations of the Messiah?

4. Jesus tells the crowd that John the Baptist is the greatest human ever born of a woman but then says "Whoever is the least in the kingdom of Heaven is greater than John the Baptist."
   What does it mean to be the least in the kingdom of Heaven?

5. Does Jesus ever say what types of people are in the kingdom of Heaven? (Maybe Matt 5:3-12 has something interesting in it)

Pray:
Take time to share needs and pray for one another.