Memory Verse for the Week: Matthew 5:44-45 (ESV)

But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

Worship Folder | Fill-in Outline | Spotify Playlist | Song Lyrics | Live Stream | Sermon Audio

INTRO: What is your most vivid memory of encountering an enemy?

A PARTICULAR EXPRESSION OF LOVE
What if love only went to the deserving?

A STUBBORN INSTINCT TO FIGHT
What are the pitfalls of self-interest and self-defense that pull us back into cycles of vengeance?

HOW ARE JESUS’ COMMANDS EVEN POSSIBLE?
For what possible reasons could this would make sense?

YOU CAN PRAY WITH US …

1. Worship the LORD for His holy love. Praise Him, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, for how He is unlike any other, showing mercy and grace to His enemies and working to love us when we were His opponents.

2. How have you lived in stubborn willfulness and opposition to your Maker? Confess your antagonism and prideful resistance to Jesus, asking Him to forgive you and to change your heart.

3. Give thanks to Jesus for how He gives and takes away. Thank Him for removing the toxic nature of our sin and our corrupt hearts and for giving us newness of life by His righteousness and Spirit.

4. Who do you know that struggles with resentment or unwillingness to love those who fail? Pray for them, asking the Lord to help them see their sin before His holiness and to seek His mercy so that they can show mercy.

5. Ask the Holy Spirit to bear in you His fruit of love. Pray that He would so work into your heart the miracle of God’s saving love in Jesus, that you would be eager to love other sinners as you have been loved.

Looking Back

The Facilitator is a study tool designed to help you engage with the weekly sermon through the five elements we incorporate in our Community Groups; Get Acquainted & Sharing, Sermon Study, Mission, Worship and Prayer. This tool will be made available Monday morning to give us the opportunity to look back at what we heard on Sunday.