Summer on the Mount:
Let’s spend the Summer on the Mount. Live Oak’s Summer series will dive deep and dig into the longest recorded sermon of Jesus, the Sermon on the Mount, found in Matthew 5-7. It’s only 100 verses, but it is rich, insightful and even surprising as Jesus teaches us about what the Kingdom of God is like. Join us starting Sunday, June 1, for Summer on the Mount.
Week 13: Matthew 7:24-29 = 2 Building Sites
When Jesus concluded the Sermon on the Mount, the crowd was amazed at His teaching and recognized that Jesus taught as one who has authority. Jesus challenged them and us to put His teaching into practice and build our life on Jesus and His truth. What will we do with Jesus’ teaching?
LIVE OAK CONNECTION POINT:
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DISCUSSION/REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
- What was a HIGH and a LOW from the past week?
- Describe a teacher from your childhood that made a big impression on you.
- If money was not an obstacle, what would your dream home look like and where would you want it to be? Describe it.
READ: Matthew 7:24-29.
Spend some time SOAPing this passage. You can either spend time SOAPing individually and documenting for a several minutes and then spend time sharing with each -OR- SOAP in real time with each other. Either way make as many observations as you can.
- Observations: What are the things that stand out to you about this passage?
- How would you summarize this passage in one sentence?
- What does this passage tell me about who God is?
- What does this passage tell me about who I am?
- Compare the two building sites in this mini parable of Jesus in Matthew 7:24-27. What is the same in the two? What is the different? What does this show us?
- Why is Jesus’s parable of the two builders a fitting conclusion to his Sermon on the Mount?
- What stands out about the reaction of the crowd to Jesus’ teaching (7:28-29)?
- Since Jesus’s words have divine authority, how does that affect your approach to the Bible?
- In what areas of your life (finance, work, family, recreation, etc.) would you say that you were more “amazed” at Jesus’s teachings instead of obedient to them? What can you change to be obedient in those areas?
- How do you currently seek to listen to God’s Word?
- What is going well for you in seeking to hear and engaging God’s Word?
- What is challenging for you in listening to and engaging God’s Word?
- How do you currently seek to live out and apply God’s Word?
- What are some ways you can engage God’s Word in new ways?
- What are some ways you can grow at being someone who applies God’s Word and puts them into practice?
- What else stood out from this week’s sermon?
- APPLICATION: What is your big takeaway from this week’s sermon? Be specific.
NEXT STEPS:
Everyone has a next step to apply what we have learned. What is your next step? Be specific.
MEMORY VERSE: *Challenge yourself or your group to commit this verse to memory:
James 1:22 “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”
PRAYER:
Spend some time praying for each other.
Scripture References:
Matthew 7:24-29; Luke 6:46-49; James 1:22-25; John 14:21; Matthew 4:17
