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Approaching Abba -- Lonnie Bell
The Sermon on the Mount
Matthew 6:7-9a
25 June 2017

Deep Sheet: Sermon Study Questions
1.  How is prayer both assumed and commanded in our passage? Why should prayer be a habitual way of life for the Christian?
2.  Why is prayer the greatest test for spiritual life and health?
3.  What is the “wrong thinking” as well as “thoughtlessness” that Jesus is criticizing in pagan approaches to prayer? Discuss the mindset reflected in the prayers of the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 18:26-29?
4.  How do we love God with our mind in prayer? What does it look like to heap up empty phrases, and how can we avoid it?
5.  Do you find yourself trying to win God’s favor when you pray? Do you think you need to inform him of your needs? How does Jesus’ emphasis on God as our “Father” instruct us?
6.  What does it mean to tailor our prayers to the priorities and purposes of God? How could you practically begin using The Lord’s Prayer as a model, guide or skeleton for your prayers?
7.  When it comes to The Lord’s Prayer, what does it mean that we have a tendency “to invert and then erase”?