The Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:5-15)
Community Group Discussion Questions
Making disciples through the mutual ministry of
redemptive relationships
Text: Matthew 6:5-15
Sermon Title: The Lord’s Prayer
Date: January 13, 2019
- If your prayers were written like those in the Psalms, what would those who read them learn about your concept of God?
- Read Matthew 26:39-44. What is the difference between the type of prayer described in Matthew 6:7 and the persistent prayer of Jesus?
- What do John 9:31 and John 15:7 teach us about prayer? If our Father knows what we need before we ask Him, why should we pray?
- What aspect of the prayer of the hypocrite is most convicting to you? Would changing your words correct the problem?
- Can a prayer request ever be used in a hypocritical way? Give an example.
- What makes our prayers (and prayer requests) acceptable to God?
In his book “Knowing God,” J.I. Packer writes, “You sum up the whole of New Testament religion if you describe it as the knowledge of God as one’s holy Father. If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God’s child, and having God as his Father. If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all..For everything that Christ taught, everything that makes the New Testament new, and better than the Old, everything that is distinctively Christian as opposed to merely Jewish, is summed up in the knowledge of the Fatherhood of God. ‘Father’ is the Christian name for God. Our understanding of Christianity cannot be better than our grasp of adoption.”
- Why is the understanding of the “Fatherhood of God” and our adoption as His children so vital to the “health” of our prayer life? How has this understanding been governing your prayer life as of late?
- What would help you grow in making God’s Fatherhood more central to your prayers?