Sermon Outline

Hope is enduring in our everyday lives...

...when we obey and pray with hope. (17-19) ...because God is our source and our goal. (20-21) ...when we preach and greet with hope. (22-25)

Discussion/Application

1. Why is it so important to obey our leaders who keep watch over our soul?

2. Goals are talked about a lot in our lives. What are some of the goals that you've set in your own life before? How can you tell if God is your source and your goal in your own life?

3. What message does your life preach in your everyday life? How do you know?

Sermon Outline

Live a life that is pleasing to God by looking to Jesus.

1. Love others without fear: Jesus never leaves us. (1-6) 2. Devote yourselves to truth: Jesus never changes. (7-9) 3. Sacrifice on repeat: Jesus always endures. (10-16)

Discussion/Application

1. Why might it be a fearful thing to love someone? How does our "never-leaving-Jesus" give us the confidence to love well?

2. Based on your own expereinces, how can we work together to help keep one-another from walking away from the truth?

3. We look like who we look too. What's one new way that you can look to Jesus more this week?

Sermon Outline

Because of Jesus, we don't have to hide from God.

1. What You Are Not (18-21) 2. What You Are (22-24) 3. Listen Up! (25-27) 4. Gratefully receive the unshakable Kingdom. (28-29)

7 Things We’re Surrounded By Witnesses City of [the Living] God Angels The Church Spirits of Perfected People God: Judge of all Jesus: The Mediator

Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Discussion/Application

1. What do we mean when we say, "because of Jesus, we don't have to hide from God."

2. What are some of the ways you've tried to hide from God in your own life?

3. How can you biblically "fear" the Lord this week?

Sermon Outline

If we endure in holiness, it will be God's holiness…

...so consider the Son’s enduring redemption. (3-4) …so endure in the Father’s loving discipline. (5-11) …so strive for peace together. (12-17)

4 Discipline Dismissals The Fate Card “Meh, it is what it is. That’s life.” The Entitled Card “Meh, God has to forgive me anyway.” The Demon Card “Ugh, it’s Satan again!” The Victim Card “Ugh, God is picking on me!”

Discussion/Application

1. Holiness, as Scripture uses it is not self-interested or a word for the "self-sufficient". How have you heard the word or concept of holiness abused? What does holiness mean in Scripture?

2. Heart Diagnostic: which "discipline dismissal" card do you tend to "play"? The Fate Card “Meh, it is what it is. That’s life.”? The Entitled Card “Meh, God has to forgive me anyway.”? The Demon Card “Ugh, it’s Satan again!”? The Victim Card “Ugh, God is picking on me!”?

3. What is standing in the way of your striving for peace with a brother or sister in Christ? Who do you need to make peace with this week?

Sermon Outline

Because God is faithful, we can live by faith.

7. We can fight and win unwinnable battles. (11:32-34) 8. We can endure unthinkable suffering with honor. (11:35-38) 9. We can look forward to the fulfillment of God's promises. (11:39-12:2)

Discussion/Application

1. Because God is faithful, we can live by faith, enduring unthinkable suffering with honor. What is it that makes suffering honorable in the Christian faith?

2. What is a battle in your life right now that, apart from Christ, would be completely unwinnable (be sure to keep yourself from gossip as you share)?

3. What is a promise of God from Scripture that you're looking forward to Him fulfilling? How can you remind yourself of your anticipation this week?

Sermon Outline

Because God is faithful, we can live by faith.

4. We can trust God’s promises that outlive us. (17-22) 5. We can refuse to fear the world’s power. (23-28) 6. We can trust God to fight for us. (29-31)

Discussion/Application

1. God's promises outlive us. What makes this good news for God's people?

2. What fear of the world do you tend to experience? Political? Health? Economy? Fear-of-man/people-pleasing?

3. What's one area of your life where you need to stop fighting and trust God to fight for you?

Sermon Outline

Because God is faithful, we can live by faith. (1-2) 1. We can trust in what is unseen. (3-7) 2. We can obey commands that seem crazy. (8-12) 3. We can want what God promises more than what we have. (13-16)

Discussion/Application

1. Why is it important, in the Christian faith, to trust in what is unseen?

2. Share a command from Scripture that seemed crazy to you the first time you heard it. What (if anything) about your your view of that passage has changed?

3. Take a moment right now to ask the Lord, "Give me a right view of your promises so that they outshine my prossesions."

Sermon Outline

Living as Gospel people is hard, but it's worth persevering!

1. An Ominous Warning (26-31) 2. A Reassuring Affirmation (32-39)

Discussion/Application

1. What does it mean to be saved/justified? How are we saved/justified?

2. Describe a time in your life when you ignored the signs of a problem. What made wisdom/discernment imoprtant in that circumstance? What makes wisdom/discernment important in understanding our own salvation?

3. How are you tempted to throw away your confidence in Christ? To replace it with confidence in something of this world? Make a plan to remind yourself every morning to endure with Jesus.