Main Text: Matthew 22:34-40 (ESV) 34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" 37 And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."

Preaching Point: Jesus teaches us to measure genuine faith by how comprehensively we love God and how sincerely we love others.

Teaching Points:

1. Ask: What Does God Expect from Me? (vv. 34-36)
2. Love God with All You've Got (vv. 37-38)
3. Love the Person Next to You (vv. 39-40)

Application Questions:

1. Write down one observation or application you found helpful from this week's sermon. Why did it stand out to you?
2. Read Deuteronomy 10:12–13 and 1 John 3:23. Although there are specific ways God asks us to love, how do these summaries help clarify your role as a Christian and simplify your understanding of God’s general expectations for you?
3. How might your daily decisions and commitments change if you viewed every decision through the lens of “how will this love God and love others?”
4. Read Deuteronomy 6:4–5. What does it practically look like to love God with all your heart, soul, and strength?
5. Which area of your life most clearly reveals a lack of wholehearted love for God right now?
6. Read Deuteronomy 30:6. What hope does this passage give Christians concerning their ability to grow in love for God?
7. How does God's promise to transform your heart encourage you to keep pursuing Him?
8. Read John 15:12–13 and Mark 12:31. How would you honestly evaluate your love for all of the people God has placed around you?
9. Make a list of ways Christ has loved you and ways you naturally care for yourself. How can you intentionally show those same kinds of love to others this week?
10. Read 1 John 4:7–12 and 1 John 4:19–21. What do these passages teach about the connection between loving God and loving others?
11. What areas of loving others have you neglected, avoided, or need to improve? What specific step can you take this week to improve in your love for those around you?

Main text: Matthew 22:15–22 (ESV) 15 Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. 16 And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone’s opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. 17 Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” 18 But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? 19 Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. 20 And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” 21They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 22 When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.

Preaching Point: Jesus’ words should corner our rebellious hearts and cause us to regularly submit to our God-given earthly authorities, while reserving our ultimate allegiance and submission for the King of Kings.

Teaching Points:

1. Address Your Rebellious Heart (vv. 15-18)
2. Honor Your God-Given Earthly Authorities (vv. 19-21a)
3. Supremely Honor Your Heavenly King (21b-22)

Application Questions:

1. Write down one insight or application that you found helpful from this week’s sermon. Why did it stand out to you?
2. Read Matthew 22:15–22. How would you honestly describe your attitude toward authority in your home, workplace, church, government etc.?
3. Read Romans 8:7. Where do you see rebellion most clearly? Is it outward defiance, quiet grumbling, outward compliance with inward resistance, or something else?
4. What does that pattern reveal about your heart?
5. Read Mark 7:9–13. In what ways are you tempted to look for apparent loopholes, exceptions, or different interpretations of scripture in order to dismiss the authorities God has placed over you? How can you fight this temptation?
6. Read Romans 13:1–7 and 1 Peter 2:13–25. What objections to submitting to earthly authority do these passages directly address?
7. How can these passages reshape your attitude toward imperfect leaders and institutions as you strive to live for Christ?
8. Read 1 Chronicles 29:11 and Colossians 1:15–17. What are the implications of these passages in your life?
9. Write down five practical applications that these passages bring to mind when it comes to supremely honoring God’s authority in your life.

Main Text: Matthew 22:1–14 (ESV) 1 And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, 2 “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, 3 and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. 4 Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.” ’ 5 But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, 6 while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. 7 The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. 8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 9 Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ 10 And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11 “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. 12 And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Preaching Point: We must respond appropriately to God’s gracious invitation to his Son’s banquet, or risk being excluded from his eschatological celebration.

Teaching Points:

1. Don’t Neglect God’s Invitation (vv. 1-7)
2. Prepare to Stand Before God (vv. 8-13)
3. Call Everyone, Warn Everyone (v. 14)

Application Questions:

1. Write down one observation or application that you found helpful from this week's sermon. Why did it stand out to you?
2. Read Isaiah 65:12–15 and Hebrews 2:1–4. How do these passages show you that "neglect" is not a neutral middle ground but its own form of rejection?
3. What "farms" and "businesses" (Matthew 22:5), work, hobbies, kids' activities, side projects, domestic activities, etc., are most likely to steal your attention from God's eschatological banquet?
4. What is one specific, concrete step you can take this week to put them in their proper place?
5. Read Revelation 19:6–8, Isaiah 61:10–11, and Matthew 22:8–13. What do these passages teach you about the significance of coming to God’s eschatological banquet with the appropriate attire?
6. What does the speechless man in Matthew 22:11–12 expose about the danger of someone coming to God’s eschatological banquet on their own terms?
7. Read Philippians 3:8–11 and Galatians 3:26–27. How does being clothed in Christ, rather than in your own moral performance, religious activity, or theological knowledge qualify you for the wedding banquet?
8. Read Ezekiel 33:1–9 and Acts 20:25–27. Salvation is God's sovereign choice, but God's sovereignty does not remove human responsibility. That means not only is each person responsible to respond to God’s invitation, but each believer is also responsible to call everyone and warn everyone concerning salvation and judgment. How does Ezekiel's warning to the watchman and Paul's confident "I am innocent of the blood of all" (Acts 20:26) sharpen your sense of personal accountability for those who do not yet know Christ?