LUKE - WEEK 7

Leaders Note:
As you kick off the term begin your time by checking in with the group and praying for the term ahead. If there is time to do so go around and share one area the group is wanting to grow in this term and commit that to God.

Pray

This weeks passage is challenging and confronting. Before reading, it may be helpful to remember Matthew 7:7-8 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.”

Pray for discernment and guidance for your group as you begin.

Read Luke 6:27-36 (it may be helpful to read through slowly twice)

  1. What stands out to you from the passage?

  2. What are all the specific commands Jesus lists in this passage? As you name them what is the primary challenge/confrontation for each command?

  3. This passage is part of Jesus' Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6:17-49), where He is teaching on various aspects of kingdom living. How does the context of this passage (following on from the previous 6 verses) help us in interpreting who our enemies are? What other scriptures come to mind to help understand this?

  4. What can we learn about God's character and nature through Jesus' radical approach to enmity and persecution?

  5. (in pairs) What fears or anxieties come up for you when thinking about the reality of loving your enemies?

  6. “The command to love your enemy is a command to find your hope and your satisfaction in God and his great reward—not in the way people treat you. The steadfast love of the Lord is better than life (Psalm 63:3). Loving your enemy doesn't earn you the reward of heaven. Treasuring the reward of heaven empowers you to love your enemy.”-John Piper

    How can setting your minds on the things above help with fears, anxieties, bitterness that may arise from loving your enemies?

Reflection & Application:

  1. “Falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” (Acts 7:60)

    • Stephen is a prime example of praying for his enemies. There is much persecution happening to the church around the world and we have the opportunity to love and pray for those who are persecuting the church.

    • Use the Open Doors prayer guide below and pick one country. Pray for the enemies of the church. It may be for their conversion. It may be for their repentance. It may be that they would be awakened to the enmity in their hearts. It may be that they will be stopped in their downward spiral of sin.

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