Discipleship Guide: Week 6 - Rev. Nancy Varden
- Sean Stanfield
- Aug 10
- 1 min read
A Discipleship Guide for Branch Groups is a practical resource designed to help group leaders and members grow in their faith together through structured Bible study, prayer, accountability, and spiritual practices. It typically includes weekly topics, discussion questions, Scripture readings, and action steps aimed at fostering deeper relationships with God and one another. The guide promotes spiritual maturity, community building, and active living out of Christian values.
Weekly Topic: Blessed From The Inside
Scripture: Matthew 5: 3-10
Questions for Reflection and Response:
Jesus never promised an insulation from life’s troubles, the first hearers of this Gospel had plenty of persecution and isolation and rejection. Nonetheless, here in Jesus’ first sermon to his followers he calls them blessed. How would you describe a “blessed” life?
The Beatitudes, so called because of the translation “blessed are” is translated in the CEB as “happy are,” do you think these words compliment each other or contradict?
How do the happy life and the meaningful life differ? Or do they differ?
What are barriers to living the upside down world Jesus is preaching about in the Sermon on the Mount, i.e. happy are those who grieve, are helpless, who are harassed?
Actionable Steps:
Read Matthew 5: 3-10 and read Psalm 1. With the lens of Psalm 1 does this opening poem of the Sermon on the Mount by Jesus take on a new meaning or understanding through the lens of Psalm 1? Take a few minutes each day this week to journal about the blessed or happy life found in being a follower of Jesus Christ?
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