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Questions for Covenant Groups: Lead Us Not Into Temptation but Deliver Us From Evil

11/18/2013

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Below are the questions for Covenant Groups for the week of November 17, 2013.


There were three other passages that we looked at to help us understand what was meant when Jesus taught us to pray, "Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil".

1. Genesis 22:1 (and following) and the story for Abraham's faith being "tested".
2. Matthew 4:1 (and following) and Jesus being led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be "tempted" by Satan.
3. Matthew 26:39 and Jesus' prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane to "let this cup be taken from me".

Which if any of these passages was helpful for you in understanding this prayer? How did it help your understanding?

Was there anything new or enlightening about understanding the language behind the word "peirazo" (Greek for temptation)?  Is it helpful to think that we might also understand that question as "Don't put us to the test"?

If we know that God does not seek to seduce us into situations where we will be led into sin, but rather allows us to be tempted and put to the test when it is for our own good, then how does that shape the way that we ought to pray when we face "trails of many kinds"?

Is it any consolation to you to know that while God may allow you to be put to the test, we have the reassurance that he will be there with us through it all and he will give us what we need to find victory through him?  If so, how might you both pray and act the next time that you face difficult circumstances?

How has the study of this prayer shaped the way you understand prayer in general?

Share one thing, if you can, that you have really learned or appreciated from this particular study that has changed the way you see things or the way you pray or the way you live in relation to God.
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Questions for Covenant Groups: Forgiving as We are Forgiven

11/7/2013

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Below are the questions for Covenant Groups during the week following November 10th:


Listening to your forgiveness story:
  • Remember a time when you were forgiven:  Did you find receiving forgiveness difficult or easy?  What emotions did receiving forgiveness bring up for you?  
  • Remembering a circumstance when you gave forgiveness:  Was giving forgiveness difficult or easy?   
  • Why or why not?


Listening to the biblical story:  
  • In Matthew 18: 21-22, Peter asks Jesus how many times he needs to forgive someone who has wronged him.  This conversation introduces the parable of the unforgiving servant. 
  • How does the parable that follows answer or explain Peter’s question regarding forgiveness?  How does Jesus’s answer and the story itself confirm or challenge you own understanding of forgiveness?


Listening to Love’s Continuing Story:  

  • How might forgiving someone as we are forgiven open the door to a greater sense of God’s forgiveness in your own life?  
  • What might a refusal to forgive say about your own forgiveness in Christ?  
  • What does it mean for you to be given a ministry or message of reconciliation because God has “reconciled us to himself through Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:18-19)? 
  • How is that evidence of being a “new creation in Christ?”  


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Questions for Covenant Groups: Our Daily Bread

11/3/2013

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Below are the questions for Covenant Groups for this week based off of Sunday's sermon (11/3/13)

Read Exodus 16:4-21

  • Why provide food that lasts one day? What was the difference with the collection on the sixth day?  What does this say about the trust relationship that God desires?

  • What are the promises and rules which God gives about his provision of the manna?  Why did God allow some to gather much and some little?  How does that work out when the manna is later distributed?  Do you see a principle of “enough” in this provision of God?


Read Matthew 6:11.  


  • Why do you think that Jesus makes the first petition for ourselves a request for bread?  What other Gospel stories of bread come to mind?  Do you think that “bread” is only about the baked product, or does it stand for something larger?  If something larger, what?  

  • Why do you think Jesus used the word “us” instead of “me.”  What does the plural indicate about the scope of God’s concern and the intention for our own concern?  When it comes to the necessities of life are we responsible for our neighbor’s needs or just our own?  Give Scripture for your answer.

  • Do you find reasons in the Bible to pray for wealth and extra goods beyond what is needed for daily living?  In a world that says we have a right to what we get, does the Bible show a different understanding of responsibility to neighbor regarding everyone having enough?  Discuss how this impacts our views of charity and justice?

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  • Home
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