Sermon Outline:
1. God is a Good Father who provides good gifts to His children.
2. Come boldly to God with your requests for the good gifts He has promised
2. Through His good gifts we can recognize and delight in His perfect standard of righteousness.
Discussion Questions:
What are some of the attributes of God that we remember when we call Him Father?
Why does Jesus rephrase his point three times (ask, seek knock) to teach us to bring our requests to God?
Do you see yourself as coming to God as a child to a Father? Or do your requests and prayers suggest a different kind of relationship with God?
In what ways does the analogy of human parents and children help us understand how God responds to our prayers and gives us gifts?
Why does God not answer all our requests the way we would want Him to?
What are some of the gifts that God has promised that all His children will receive from Him?
What is the great gift through which God calls Himself our Father?
Why were the Pharisees bold to come before God in their prayers? Why should we be bold?
Most people say “the golden rule” is a good rule. How does this rule look when most people in the world try and carry it out?
How does “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” sum up the righteousness Jesus has been teaching throughout the Sermon on the Mount?
How have you responded to the standard of righteousness taught in the sermon on the mount?
If you have been convicted by the standard of righteousness Jesus has been teaching, how does Jesus tell us to respond?
