We live lives filled with anxiety. The question isn't: how do we not experience fear? The question is: where do we turn when we're afraid? Jesus gently reminds us of who he is and the fullness of his love so that we can learn to trust him in every situation - even the scariest.

Application Questions: 

1. What form has anxiety over provision, security, and the future taken most recently in your life?

2. How do you normally combat or deal with those worries?

3. What aspects of nature most regularly remind you of God's faithfulness, character, and love?

4. How would your week look different if you were seeking his kingdom, and not your own, first?

5. How do the eternal promises of God fuel your life lived for his glory and not your own?

Jesus talks about money more than almost anything else. He regularly presses people to see that the way we handle our possessions tells us a lot about what we truly believe. That's why when someone asks Jesus to settle a property dispute, he instead tells a story about the danger of coveting. Greed and envy invade our lives and make us fools, like someone who looks for their life in money only to leave it behind when they die. The gospel can free us from the power of money—whether we have it or not!—and turn us into generous people because of our generous God.

Application Questions: 

1. Where do you see coveting, envy, or greed at work in your life? How does it affect your thoughts, emotions, and decisions?

2. Have you experienced a time when you got what you wanted but it didn't satisfy you the way you thought it would?

3. Does generosity come easy to you, or do you find it difficult? Why do you think that is?

4. How can the gospel can move you towards contentment and generosity in your life now?

Jesus is on the road to Jerusalem, and he teaches his disciples what it means to follow him in a difficult world. With crowds surrounding them and enemies plotting against them, the disciples will be tempted to hypocrisy—trying to show people only what they want to see. Jesus says this is the one thing they must not do, and he gives them a lesson on fear, forgiveness, and how the gospel makes you a whole person wherever you go and whatever you face.

Application Questions:

1. Do you feel the pull of hypocrisy in your own life? Are there any areas in your life where you see its effects?

2. Do you present yourself a certain way in Christian environments that doesn’t reflect reality? Do you present yourself a certain way in non-Christian environments that doesn’t reflect reality?

3. How does fear play a role in your answers to the above?

4. How does the gospel address those fears and help you be a whole person wherever you go?

The final line of the Lord's Prayer is about the tests of life. How do we face them, and how can we make it through them? The Bible tells us that the tests of life can grow us in deep and beautiful ways, and the Lord's Prayer shows us how. When we pray about these tests, we see them more clearly, understand them more deeply, and learn to move through them with grace, grit, and trust in our Father in Heaven. 

Application Questions: 

1. Every day we face tests and temptations, but we don't always see them. What are some that you might be overlooking? What would change if you didn't overlook them? 

2. The pressure of tests can purify you. How might the tests you are facing now be doing that? 

3. How can the gospel give you power to move through the tests of life and end up better, not worse?

In teaching us to pray, Jesus leads us to develop the habit of asking for forgiveness. But this habit doesn't just set us free from the impact of our own sin, it also sets us free from the pain and bitterness of the sin that is committed against us.

Application Questions: 

1. How often do you confess your sin to God and ask for his forgiveness?

2. What are examples of ways you have engaged in distraction, denial, or despair when confronted with conviction?

3. How does the promise of Christ set you free from the guilt and condemnation you're tempted to feel?

4. How does God's forgiveness of you change how you view others' sin against you?

5. Is there anyone in your life God is calling you to forgive?

When most people think of prayer, they think of asking for things. In the middle of the Lord's Prayer, Jesus tells us to ask God for our daily bread, which means we are to bring our needs to God and expect that he will meet them as a Father cares for his children. When we meditate on this, we find that the way we ask changes: we ask in a way that is far more confident, grateful, generous, humble, and satisfied.

Application Questions: 

1. Why do you ask God for things? How do you go about it? How does it make you feel when you do it? 

2. Why does Christian prayer emphasize the fatherhood of God, especially when it comes to asking for things from him? 

3. How might God be leading you to change the way you ask him for things? 

The third line of the Lord's Prayer invites God to have his way in our lives and our world. For many of us this runs against the grain—we want more control over our lives, not less. But when we understand God as our Father in Heaven, and see his son Jesus Christ pray this same prayer in Gethsemane, we find ourselves desiring God's kingdom and will from the heart. 

Application Questions: 

1. What do you find desirable about God's kingdom "on earth as it is in heaven"? 

2. How do you find yourself resisting God's kingdom and will in your own life? 

3. What about the gospel can lead your heart to sincerely desire God's will above your own? 

4. What would it look like to pray "Your kingdom come, Your will be done" in your life today? 

Jesus continues to teach us how to pray by reminding us of who it is that we're praying to: A God who is holy. And, as we approach him, we are reminded that his holiness is not only overwhelming but also our greatest comfort.

Application Questions: 

1. How do you view God when you come to him in prayer?

2. How does the combination of God's fatherhood and his holiness shape how you relate to him?

3. How might meditating on his holiness bring about his name being hallowed in your heart?

4. How might you strive to live in a way that hallows his name in the world?

When Jesus teaches his disciples to pray, he gives them the Lord's Prayer. This short prayer shows us how to relate to God and gives us a window into the whole Christian life. It begins in a way that would shock Jesus' audience: addressing God as Father. Christian prayer is unique because in Christ, God is our Father. This provides a different foundation for prayer than any other religion or philosophy. When we understand it, we can pray with far greater intimacy, depth, and joy. 

Application Questions: 

1. What is your personal experience with prayer? 

2. What do you find encouraging and what do you find challenging about the Lord's Prayer? 

3. How do you think God feels about you when you pray? Why? 

4. How might knowing God is your Father through Christ change your prayer life? 

Romans 8 is one of the most radical expressions of joy that you can find, and it's all based on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. When the resurrection lands on your mind and your heart, this joy goes to work in your life, connecting you to God's own love now and forever.

Application Questions: 

1. Why do you think Jesus did or did not rise from the dead? What difference does that make to your daily life? 

2. How do you handle feelings of guilt, shame, and condemnation? Do you think the message of Easter offers a better way? 

3. How do you handle adversity, suffering, and the reality of death? How could that change if the message of Easter is true?