WEEKLY SERMON REFLECTIONS

Each week, take 5 days to dive deeper into the heart of our Sunday sermons! Through key insights and scripture, this format will allow for further personal reflection and spiritual growth. Keeping this at the dinner table, discuss it with family and/or friends.

PRAYER OF THE WEEK:

“Heavenly Father, we thank you that each of us has been born for such a time as this. Only you are on the throne of Heaven and you have called us to live boldly in a world that at times clashes with your Kingdom. Teach us to pray your Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. In Jesus’ name.”

DAY
01

…for the kingdom of God is…righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

-ROMANS 14:17

REFLECTION:

The Kingdom of Heaven is the big picture that God wants to bring into small stories - yours. When we pray thy Kingdom come, we are aligning with God’s will.

RESPONSE:

What mindsets would be in conflict with a prayer for “thy Kingdom come”? What cultural ones and what, maybe on a more personal level, could be in conflict?

DAY
02

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

-ROMANS 12:2

REFLECTION:

There is a different lens by which we are to view this life. The prayer of the ‘Our Father’ recenters us to this lens. When we renew our minds to the word of God, we can then rightly relate to the world around us and submit everything to Him.

RESPONSE:

How can we align ourselves with God’s kingdom vision and still have hope, even when in the natural world, the future seems hopeless and dismal?

DAY
03

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn…the gentle…those who hunger and thirst for righteousness…the merciful…the pure in heart…the peacemakers…the persecuted…Rejoice and be glad, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

-MATTHEW 5:3-12

REFLECTION:

God presents us His Kingdom, inside someone else’s world. Jesus is telling us that there is a rightness, a hope, and a joy of life that can happen in our earthly spaces… just like it is in heaven.

RESPONSE:

What would it look like for you to live each day in the joy of the Lord? What would the benefits be to you personally and to those around you, if you could acquire strength in your spirit by the Holy Spirit to live each day with this boldness?

DAY
04

Why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the LORD and against His anointed, saying, “Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us!

-PSALM 2:1-3

REFLECTION:

There will always be a clashing of kingdoms on the earth, but praise God He is sovereign over all. (Read Romans 13)

RESPONSE:

Do you pray for the “kingdoms” on the earth and those in authority? Take a moment to pray for the earthly authorities and cast any cares on the Lord.

DAY
05

He presented another parable to them, saying, “The Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; and this is smaller than all other seeds, but it grew and when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”

-MATTHEW 13:31-32

REFLECTION:

Changing the world can only begin in your own garden.

RESPONSE:

What is the garden of your thought-life, your habits, your home? What seeds have been sewn in your garden? Can others find flourishing and rest there?