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1 Chuck Allen Associate Pastor 5091 Highway 20 Sugar Hill, Georgia x cell Dear Adult Growth Group TEACHERS,! It may not feel like it, but Fall is here! And that means a new year of Bible Study and focus on Godʼs Eternal Word. Iʼm very excited to introduce you to our new curriculum as we get laserfocused on the teachings of The Master this Fall. You may have heard me say - If you can get Jesus right, then all of life can get right. I really believe that and I pray that you do too. Thatʼs why we will be in the Gospels for a while and more specifically teaching through The Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus unpacked a mountain of doctrine and the basics of the faith.! Please review this curriculum and plan to watch Andi Worley as she provides a master taught lesson on this weekʼs curriculum. You can view Andiʼs teaching on our website by copying and pasting this link into your browsers address line: As a church wide effort, I want to encourage you to dig deeper than you ever have to deliver the truths of this message in your classes. That might require some of you to spend less time in fellowship and possibly less time in your community of public prayer...but getting a laserfocus on the teachings of Jesus is exactly what the doctor ordered for our couples, families and community. We will never go wrong as we share the Word of God with folks in need of hearing it.! Please feel free to contact me with any needs you may have in your classes and make your plans to attend a required and essential TEACHER TRAINING on Sunday evening October 3 at 5:00-7:00 pm.! Our dear church needs us to deliver this message with passion, relevancy and a heart that has been prepared to convey the timeless truths of Jesus. Thank you for your continued ministry and for your willingness to put this curriculum to work with you in your classes. I love you guys! Thanks for al you do! Blessings,! Chuck Allen chuck@mysugarhillchurch.com cell

2 mysugarhillchurch.com Adult Growth Group Bible Study Fall 2010

3 Week One - Page One WRITE ON THE BOARD) Happy Blessed: How would you describe the difference? Are they different? Happy: Content, glad, joyful, cheerful, ecstatic, delighted, fortunate; has good luck; favorable circumstances. "Happiness isn't good enough for me! I demand euphoria (ecstasy, rapture, excitement)!" Comic Strip Calvin (Calvin (boy) and Hobbes (stuffed tiger). Blessed: Holy, sacred, sanctified, hallowed, consecrated, set apart. GK possessing God s favor; state of being marked by fullness from God; state of the believer in Christ. Literally means most to be envied! The SOM recorded in MATTHEW 5-7 is a collection of some of the most important teachings of Jesus. In this portion of Scripture, we find the BEATITUDES. In LUKE 6:20-49 there is a similar account. In the SOM Jesus named eight categories of people whom God specifically blesses: the humble, those who mourn, the meek, the righteous, the merciful, the pure, the peacemakers, and the persecuted. That isn't an exclusive list, but it is indicative of those whom God blesses because their actions come from a Christ-like character. To follow God s design in the Sermon on the Mount is to receive divine blessing and thus demonstrate you are a true child of God! THEME: Matthew presents Jesus as King of God s promised kingdom and connected the Lord of the Christian with the Messiah of the Jew. HISTORICAL CONTEXT: Both MATTHEW and LUKE indicate the SOM was delivered during the first year of Jesus ministry in Galilee, when the opposition of the religious teachers had already begun. This was also the time when Jesus, the new Teacher, had reached the climax of His popularity. Earlier in His Galilean ministry Jesus had confined His teaching to the Synagogues, but later, when the crowds pressed around Him, He resorted to open-air preaching, as in the case of the SOM. What does this pressing around Him tell you about the listeners to the SOM? Are you ready to press around Him? Nobody knows exactly where the SOM took place, but it was probably near Capernaum in a nearby natural amphitheater, going down to the Sea of Galilee (MATTHEW 4:23 And Jesus was going about in all Galilee, MAT 5:1 And when He saw the multitudes, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him). From this location, Jesus could have gone out from shore on a boat and be heard by all those sitting on the surrounding hillside, although MATTHEW and LUKE seem to place Him on the shore. Shortly after the SOM, Jesus and His disciples entered Capernaum, according to MAT 8:5 And when He had entered Capernaum,.. MATTHEW and LUKE are known as Parallel Accounts, written for different audiences. Why did each write his gospel what purpose did each have in mind? To whom did each write? Matthew: Presents Jesus as the expected divine Messiah-King. He wrote to reveal the truth about Jesus to his audience of better-educated Jews (and the whole world). He wrote a book on the heritage of Jesus and included much of Jesus teachings because the Jewish community was already divided internally and externally

4 Week One - Page Two (Mark: Presents Jesus as Suffering Servant-Messiah ) Luke: Presents the humanity of Jesus and calls Him the Son of Man. He wrote to reveal the truth to the Gentiles (Greeks) that Christ alone offers salvation to all people the universality of salvation is his theme. In his systematic account, he wrote so that they would gain the knowledge that would make them secure as believers and to challenge them to practice their faith more fully. (John: Presents Jesus as the Son of God - the reality of Jesus claims) There are two repeated phrases we will take note of as we study blessed are and the kingdom of God. What do you imagine they pictured in their minds when Jesus announced this good news that the kingdom of heaven is at hand? If, all your life, you had been taught to look for a future time when God would usher in His kingdom, what kind of impact do you think it would have on you to hear Jesus teaching about the kingdom of God being here and now? This is more like it! This was the kingdom the Jews had expected and longed for OR SO THEY THOUGHT! As Jesus popularity increased, a change began to occur in the characteristics of His teaching. Earlier messages focused on READ: NIV - MATTHEW 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach and say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Later, both publicly and privately, His teaching became more intimate, more personal with His own disciples. He was totally occupied with the principles of kingdom living. Why are the teachings of Jesus in the SOM of first importance? The Messiah-King is giving principles about the lifestyle we are to adopt as we submit to Him and lives our lives as He did - genuinely, honestly, and in God s power! The SOM, like the OT Law, shows us that we are powerless to obey - we need a Savior. It points us to Christ. That does not negate our responsibility to live the principles of the SOM to the best of our abilities. Jesus teaches that the values of this world do not lead to blessing. Instead, blessing comes through living by values which the world despises, but which God holds dear! His teaching was new and powerful. He was emphasizing an active God who worked on behalf of His people. Only those who fully believed in God as King could have the courage to live the extraordinarily different lifestyle Jesus taught His disciples! We are His disciples, too. Do we have the courage to live this extraordinary lifestyle? What did He mean for the kingdom of heaven is at hand? READ: NIV - PSA 140:7 O Sovereign LORD, my strong deliverer, who shields my head in the day of battle. JER 32:17 "Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you. Why the urgency, if God has always ruled? Could Jesus be affirming that, in His own coming, God s kingdom was already breaking through into time and space?... MATTHEW 4 records the baptism of Jesus by John. From that point on, Jesus the Messiah prophesied that the awesome rule and power of God would be openly expressed! GOD HIMSELF WAS WALKING IN HUMAN HISTORY!

5 Week One - Page Three The phrase Kingdom of Heaven is used in MATTHEW while the other gospel writers used kingdom of God (MATTHEW uses it 4X also). They are interchangeable and essentially the same. AMP LUK 17:21..the kingdom of God is within you [in your hearts] and among you [surrounding you]. Spiritually, the kingdom of heaven is within the human heart. The kingdom of heaven is most correctly understood as that divine action which breaks into our lives, and reveals that changing events and attitudes in our lives are God s accomplishments. What does at hand mean? What exactly is it that is at hand? At hand means near or just arrived. The kingdom is not so much a place but an action. When Christ comes at His Second Coming to rule, the whole earth will be His kingdom with no limitations! BUT FOR NOW. We are to expect God to act on earth just as He acts in heaven; His will will come to pass! How? Through His children indwelt by Him! Describe how that truth affects you personally. WHEN JESUS CHRIST RETURNED TO HEAVEN AT HIS RESURRECTION, WHO DID HE SEND TO HIS CHILDREN? READ: NIV - JOHN 14:16 "And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; 14:17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you. BOTTOM LINE: He was announcing that the promised kingdom in which Sovereign God will visibly act to enforce His will had come to His disciples in the presence of Jesus Christ; was going to come to us in the Person of the Holy Spirit; and that Christ will come in the future to take us to heaven with Him. Let s begin our study in MATTHEW. READ: NIV - MATTHEW 5:1 And when He saw the multitudes, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. 5:2 And opening His mouth He began to teach them, saying, 5:3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 5:4 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 5:5 "Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. 5:6 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. 5:7 "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. 5:8 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 5:9 "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. 5:10 "Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 5:11 "Blessed are you when men cast insults at you, and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, on account of Me. 5:12 "Rejoice, and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.?? What is the biblical meaning of the word blessed? S - supremely blest; fortunate, happy. Z possessing the favor of God; marked by the fullness from God; the indwelling of the Holy Spirit satisfying fully, no matter the circumstances. It is said of one who becomes a partaker of God s nature through faith in Christ. It can literally mean MOST TO BE ENVIED. Why are we to be envied?

6 Week One - Page Four READ: NIV - 2PETER 1:4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. GREATLY TO BE ENVIED ARE THEY, WHY, ACCORDING TO 2PETER 1:4? READ: TM - EPHESIANS 1:3 How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He's the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. To what kinds of blessings do you think this refers material or other? Pardon, peace, redemption, adoption, the receiving of the Spirit, etc. - not necessarily or primarily external privileges. So, what is Jesus saying when He uses the word blessed? While some of His statements point to the future, there is the present inner supernatural experience of the believer who receives all he needs to be satisfied in all circumstances. Are you satisfied in all circumstances? Why or why not? In the New Covenant, Jesus makes the startling statement that God s everlasting kingdom is a present kingdom which also exists spiritually in the hearts of Christfollowers. Internally, it already rules in the hearts of all Christ-followers and is therefore present. READ: AMP JOHN 10:10b I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows). Do you? NOW READ: NIV ROMANS 5:17b how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. Externally, it can be seen in both the visible and invisible church. It is present, progressive (gradually developing) and future because it will not be fully completed until the second coming of the Son of Man to judge and reign. God's blessings are of two kinds: general and specific. Some of God's blessings fall upon everyone (general) and others on those who obey Him (specific). We will be looking at the latter, specific blessings in the SOM. In the OT covenant, an individual who lived by faith and obedience was happy because he led an enriched life with material blessings and looked forward to future blessings. The path to God s blessing was > enter covenant, have faith, obey God. In the NT, Jesus speaks of the actual present blessing that comes when we follow the path laid out in the SOM in all our circumstances. WE HAVE SO MUCH MORE TO EXPERIENCE! We can know NOW the inner touch of God in our present lives. NT Christ-followers are blessed, no matter how others may view our lives. Blessing (GK = Makarios) is a paradox: an experience of the kingdom s inner riches at all times, even in the course of external poverty and trial. How would you describe your own life? Are you blessed? Are your blessings internal or external? If you had to choose between the two, which would you choose? Is there a cost for a Christ-follower to be blessed in this way? What is it? Are you willing to pay that cost in order to be blessed as Jesus is describing? Coming: The pathway to blessing laid out by Jesus in MATTHEW 5-7.

7 Leaderʼs Guide OPENING THOUGHT: OSWALD CHAMBERS: One of the greatest crises of our day is that we are contented with easy satisfaction in our spiritual lives." Have Group Members describe what they believe easy satisfaction is. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Why? FOCUS: The focus of this opening lesson on the Sermon On The Mount is to help Group Members understand that, in God s economy, satisfaction in life is not related directly to life circumstances. Rather, it is directly related to the pattern of blessings Jesus Himself laid out in the Beatitudes. His practical lifestyle principles found in MATTHEW 5-7 must be embraced if the Christ-follower is to be content and blessed. As HENRY BLACKABY said Contentment frees you to enjoy everything God has given you. Contentment demonstrates your belief that God loves you and has your best interest in mind. CLOSING THOUGHT: Do people come to you and ask you why you are so joyful, so happy, so blessed? Would you like to be that kind of person? What will it take? Can you identify any changes in your thinking and/or lifestyle that you need to make in order to be content, satisfied, and happy? NOTE: NIV NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION AMP AMPLIFIED BIBLE TM THE MESSAGE, A CONTEMPORARY PARAPHRASE SOM SERMON ON THE MOUNT OT OLD TESTAMENT NT NEW TESTAMENT GK GREEK (from the Greek dictionary)