Lesson Application News Today

________ Rich Mullins played a song on his hammer dulcimer entitled “My One Thing.” When too many things occupy our attention, our devotion to Christ becomes compromised. The real, greater, fulfilled righteousness in Christ that Jesus taught about in the Sermon on the Mount should be our single focus. When it is, generosity will mark us, and worry will flee from us. Jesus was one of the most colorful speakers ever. In this latter half of Matthew 6, Jesus employed at least 18 different metap...

________ Lesson Aim: Focus on building character, who you are even in private, more than you focus on your reputation, what others think of you. ________ There is a subtle danger of letting your righteousness surpass that of the religious elite (Matthew 5:20) and in striving to be perfect (5:48). The danger is religious hypocrisy, which is the worst kind of hypocrisy. True kingdom people will do their best to live out the real, greater, fulfilled righteousness that Jesus spoke about in the six ...

________ 1. What new challenge did you face last week? 2. In what specific way did you live by Jesus’ higher standards over the past week? Ask three people—two readers and one reteller—to help. Ask the readers to read Matthew 6:1-18 one after the other, preferably from different Bible versions. Ask the third person to summarize the teaching in one minute or less. (After the reteller finishes, others can fill in any parts the person may have missed.) 3. In what ways are a person’s moti...

1. What challenge did you face or what blessing did you receive last week? 2. In what specific way did you “let your light shine before others” over the past week? Ask three people—two readers and one reteller—to help. Ask the readers to read Matthew 5:17-22, 27-28, 31-35, 38-39, 43-48 one after the other, preferably from different Bible versions. Ask the third person to summarize the teaching in one minute or less. (After the reteller finishes, others can fill in any parts the person...

________ After Israel was “baptized” in the Red Sea, they wandered in the wilderness (1 Corinthians 10:1-5). During that time they received God’s law on a mountain (Acts 7:38). Jesus retraced old Israel’s steps. He was baptized and tested in the wilderness (Matthew 3-4). Now it was time to give the new Israel (Matthew 4:18-22) a new law (of sorts). The Sermon on the Mount was probably the greatest sermon ever preached. It was the first of five sermons of Jesus recorded in Matthew. The s...

________ 1. What challenge did you face last week? 2. In what specific way did you live, love, or serve like Jesus over the past week? Ask three people—two readers and one reteller—to help. Ask the readers to read Matthew 5:1-16 one after the other, preferably from different Bible versions. Ask the third person to summarize the teaching in one minute or less. 3. What worldviews do you see represented in Jesus’ teaching? 4. Let’s dig more deeply into the passage. • To whom is Jesus ...

Leader: Provide extra time for this lesson, especially for question 2 as you recap this past year and question 9 as you plan for next year. 1. What challenge or blessing did you experience last week? 2. What was your biggest challenge and your biggest blessing of 2020? Ask three people—two readers and one reteller—to help. Ask the readers to read Matthew 12:1-23 one after the other, preferably from different Bible versions. Ask the third person to retell the story in one minute or less. ...

________ By Mark Scott One day in class at Denver Seminary, Haddon Robinson said, “Hope is the music of the future, and faith is the courage to dance to it now.” Humans, by nature, are creatures of hope. As we approach a new year, people hope that 2021 will be better than 2020. But hope is only as secure as the object in which it is placed. We hope that science can give us good vaccines for pandemics. We hope the political process can give us leaders who can right the wrongs of injustice. B...

1. What challenge did you face last week? 2. In what way did you tell others about Jesus (“the Lord saves”) and Immanuel (“God is with us”) last week? Ask three people—two readers and one reteller—to help. Ask the readers to read Matthew 2:1-15 one after the other, preferably from different Bible versions. Ask the third person to retell the story as if sharing it with a group of adults and kids gathered in front of a fireplace. 3. The rest of you: What would you change or add to t...

________ By Mark Scott The Old Testament repeatedly says, “Someone is coming.” The end of the Bible says, “Someone is coming again.” And in between the beginning and end, the Bible says, “Someone came.” At its most basic level, Christmas is evidence God keeps his word. The Bible is a theology of promise. Even foreign dignitaries, indifferent religious leaders, and wicked kings learned that. Promised Star Matthew 2:1-2 After Matthew traced Jesus’ human roots (1:1-17) and divine roo...