Sermon Study Guide | Sermon: Father’s Day
Scripture: Matthew 1:18-25; Matthew 2:13-15, 20-21; Luke 2:48-49 | Date: May 17, 2026

CONNECT - “A Personal Reflection”

This section is designed to help you relate personally to the theme of the sermon. It encourages you to reflect on your own life experiences and how they connect to the message.

Father’s Day can bring up a wide range of emotions: gratitude, grief, longing, joy, disappointment, or even a mixture of all of those at once. Take a few minutes to reflect honestly on how your own experience with fatherhood, family, mentors, or authority has shaped the way you define strength. When you think about strength, do you picture control, volume, achievement, protection, steadiness, tenderness, or something else? Share about a person who helped you see strength in a healthy way, or a moment when God began to reshape your understanding of what strength really is.

ENGAGE - “Exploring the Scripture”

This section invites you to dive into the biblical passage, discuss its meaning, and apply it to your life through thoughtful questions.

Read Matthew 1:18-25 together and discuss:

• Joseph is described as “a just man” who was “unwilling to put [Mary] to shame.” What does Joseph’s response teach us about strength that is both righteous and merciful?
  
  
• Consider this phrase: “There is a hollow version of strength that is only interested in being right.” Where do you see that kind of strength show up in our culture, families, workplaces, or even in ourselves?
  
  
• Joseph had every reason to protect his reputation, but he chose faithfulness over forcefulness. What makes it difficult to do the right thing quietly when you feel misunderstood?
  
  
• Read Matthew 2:13-15, 20-21. Joseph receives just enough direction to take the next faithful step. What do you notice about his steadiness in a season that was anything but stable?
  
  
• “Sometimes faithfulness means you do the next right thing, and then when the situation changes, you do the next right thing again.” Where do you need that kind of steady faithfulness right now?
  
  
• Joseph’s strength was not just seen in crisis, but in the hidden, ordinary years of raising Jesus. Why do we often underestimate the formational power of ordinary faithfulness?
  
  
• Read Luke 2:48-49. Mary says, “Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you,” but Jesus responds by speaking about his Father’s house. What do you imagine that moment may have felt like for Joseph?
  
  
• The message described formational strength as the kind of strength that helps others become who God made them to be rather than who we need them to be. How is that different from control?
  
  
• What does Joseph’s life teach us about influence that does not need to be loud, visible, or remembered by everyone in order to matter deeply?
  
  
• Jesus reveals a Father whose strength is faithful, steady, healing, and freeing. How does that picture of God challenge or comfort you?

APPLY - “Putting the Scriptures into Action”

This section challenges us to take what we’ve learned and implement it in practical ways in our daily lives.

• Identify one relationship where your strength may be showing up as control, criticism, distance, or pressure. What would it look like to practice faithful strength there instead?
  
  
• This week, pay attention to one “ordinary” act of faithfulness that may not look impressive but still matters: apologizing, listening, praying, showing up, staying gentle, or following through.
  
  
• Pray the simple prayer from the message: “God, I need you to reshape what strength means in me.” Notice what memories, relationships, or reactions God brings to the surface.
  
  
• For parents, mentors, leaders, coaches, or anyone with influence: ask, “Does my strength make people smaller, or does it create safety?” Choose one practical way to create safety this week.
  
  
• Think about a place where you are carrying shame, inadequacy, or the pressure to prove yourself. What would it mean to receive strength from God before trying to give strength to others?
  
  
• Reach out to someone whose quiet faithfulness has helped form you. Thank them for the strength they may not even realize they showed.

PRAY - “Seeking God’s Guidance”

This section offers a short prayer to help us center our hearts and invite God to work in our lives through his scripture.

Father, thank you that your strength is not anxious, fragile, harsh, or controlling. Thank you for revealing your heart through Jesus and for showing us that true strength is faithful, steady, and formational. For those of us who carry joy today, help us receive it with gratitude.

For those of us who carry grief, longing, disappointment, or complicated memories, meet us with tenderness. Reshape what strength means in us. Teach us to show up without showing off, to protect without controlling, to lead without wounding, and to love in ways that create safety and freedom.

Help us receive your grace deeply enough that we can extend it faithfully to others. Amen.

If you have feedback on this guide or ideas that would help your group engage more deeply, we’d love to hear from you. 

Your insight helps us continue growing as a church that wrestles honestly and walks faithfully together. Contact msummers@menlo.church

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