Kingdom Confusion, Part 6: Ask, Seek, Knock
Welcome to the sixth week of our series Kingdom Confusion. This week, we’ll be looking at Matthew 7 and Jesus’s encouragement to “ask, seek, knock” along with the Golden Rule.
Opening Discussion: : If you could wish for one thing, what would it be? (No serious answers!)
If you haven’t already, watch the Primer Podcast (12 min.):
Read Matthew 7:7-8.
1. Has there been a time in your life where your understanding of prayer wasn’t much different from the “genie in the lamp” illustration Pete talked about in the podcast and sermon? What helped you get past this understanding?
2. Why do you think it’s so hard to surrender our view and our earthly kingdom(s) so that we can receive the good gifts that God wants to give us in His Kingdom?
Read Matthew 7:12.
3. Talk through the difference between the negative and the positive constructions of the “Golden Rule” and the impact this difference makes.
Negative: “What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor.”
Positive: “Do to others what you would have them do to you.”
4. In the podcast, Pete and Jessica talk about how this positive construction of the Golden Rule infinitely opens up the ways in which we can love others. How do you sit with the “impossibility” of doing this all the time? Does this lead you to despair, to prayer, or somewhere in between?
Read Matthew 7:7-12.
5. How does seeing these verses together help you understand their connection with each other, especially verses 7-8 and 12?
Closing Reflection & Prayer
In the sermon, Pete reminds us that we can’t will ourselves to love others. Instead, the more time we spend soaking in God’s love, accepting it as the gift that it is, the more that same gift will flow out of us and into others.
To conclude your time, meditate these words from the end of this week’s message, letting it fuel your prayer time together:
We Ask – God for the gift of his Unconditional Love, Treasure, Power and Protection.
We Seek – His Kingdom, His way, His Will
We Knock – On the hearts of those who desire redemption, and we watch as God opens the door and uses our witness to flood their lives with good fruit!
(*Video available after Sunday services)
