Most of us have read the Beatitudes a hundred times and walked away thinking they were eight nice sentiments. They are not. They are a pathway—eight steps, in order, that Jesus laid out at the front of the Sermon on the Mount.
The Guest List Study Guide is a guided journey through those eight steps, showing how each prepares you for the next. Designed for small groups or individual study, it allows you to slow down, dig into Scripture, discuss what Jesus is saying, and put His words into practice.
The Study Guide is designed to help you slow down, look closely at Scripture, discuss what Jesus is saying, and carry each lesson into the days between meetings.
Explore key words in the original Greek. Discover what makarios actually means and why the word "blessed" barely covers it.
Scripture is set out where you can see it, never buried in a paragraph.
Discussion questions are designed to encourage honest conversation and meaningful reflection, with room to write an honest answer.
Each lesson includes a weekly assignment designed to carry what you've learned into the days between meetings.
Dedicated space at the end of each lesson gives you room for personal reflection, notes, and response.
A small group doesn't need a seminary degree, a classroom, or a complicated program.
It needs a few honest people willing to sit around a table and take the journey together.
The Study Guide is designed for approximately 90-minute sessions and can be used weekly or every other week.
Small groups
Sunday school classes
Church leadership teams
Individual study
Ages 12 and up
Group members can participate without having read The Guest List. Every story they need is summarized in the Study Guide.
Leaders should read The Guest List first.
A section written specifically for whoever is leading the study—including what to prepare, what to watch for, and how to handle the two lessons most likely to surface something painful.
The Beatitudes aren't eight disconnected sayings; they form a pathway. Each step prepares us for the next:
Poor in Spirit
Mourning
Meekness
Hunger for Righteousness
Mercy
Purity of Heart
Peacemaking
Persecution
Jesus leads us upward, and the journey ultimately brings us to:
"You are the salt of the earth."
"You are the light of the world."
The Guest List Study Guide is the companion to The Guest List by pastor and evangelist Rock Pifer.
The book introduces the journey.
The Study Guide gives you a way to walk it out—together or on your own.