PREPARE

Simply put, Prayer is talking with God. Jesus contrasts what it looks like to pray as a matter of showing off or thinking you must jump thru hoops so that he will pay attention, vs. relating to God as your Father in heaven who listens and responds to you as His child.

Prepare for this week’s message by reading Matthew 5-7 giving special focus to 6:5-15

ATTEND

Verses: Matthew 6:5-15

Main Point: Prayer Deepens our connection with God, transforms our hearts, and refocuses us on our mission and purpose.

1. Sincere Prayer: (Matthew 6:5-8)

2. The Disciples’ Prayer: (Matthew 6:9-13)

3. Forgiveness: (Matthew 6:14-15)

REFLECT

1. What impacted you most from this week’s message? What challenged you or encouraged you? What did you learn about the character of God? How did this week’s sermon affect your perspective on God or your perspective on yourself?
2. How is your prayer life recently? What have you done in the past to make your prayer life deeper and more fulfilling? What would deepen your prayer life now?
3. Read Matthew 6:5-6. What was the hypocrisy that Jesus was warning about in these verses? How would people draw attention to themselves through prayer? Why would that make them hypocritical?
4. What solution did Jesus advise? Does this mean that we can never pray publicly? Why is secret prayer rewarded by God?
5. Read Matthew 6:7-8. What does it look like to “babble like the pagans” in prayer? What was Jesus warning against in these verses?
6. If God knows what we need before we ask Him, why do we ask Him?
7. Read Matthew 6:9-13. Jesus provides a structure in the Lord’s Prayer that can be used as a guide for our prayers. After the opening connection, what were the six sections of the Lord’s Prayer?
8. In the first section of three petitions (God’s Glory), what are we asking for? In the second section of petitions (Our Good), what are we asking for? What do these requests reveal about God and about His followers?
9. Read Matthew 6:14-15. What was Jesus saying in these verses? What does forgiving others reveal about our experience of God’s forgiveness? What does a lack of forgiveness indicate? Does this mean forgiving others is easy or immediate?

ACT

- What is one specific thing you can do this week to put into practice what you learned in this message?
- How can you deepen your relationship with God and follow Him more closely this week?
- Who is someone you can share what you learned with?