How to Keep Going: Sermon Discussion Guide

Week 1: How to Run the Right Race

Hebrews 12:1-3

1. As we begin a new series on “How to Keep Going” from Hebrews 12, what are some of the best lessons you’ve learned about perseverance over the years? 
2. Where do you personally need endurance right now?
3. Read Hebrews 12:1-3. What do you think the author means by “the race marked out for us”? What does it look like to try and run somebody else’s race?
4. What are some things you need to remove from your life that are hindering your relationship with Jesus, and/or entangling you in sin?
5. How does considering Jesus’ suffering help us persevere?

Week 2: How to Find the Right Discipline

Hebrews 12:4-11

1. Read Hebrews 12:4-11. What are some overarching principles you see in this passage concerning discipline and suffering? 
2. Why does God sometimes use painful things to shape our hearts?
3. What does it mean that God disciplines those He loves? What does this say about those who never receive the Lord’s discipline?
4. In verse 5, we see two opposite responses to God’s discipline: making light of it or losing heart. Can you think of a time when you made light of God’s discipline? What about a time when you became so discouraged you lost heart?  
5. Instead of making light of God’s discipline or losing heart, what’s a right and encouraging perspective based on verses 5-11?

Week 3: How to Make the Right Choices

Hebrews 12:12-17

1. Read Hebrews 12:12-17 or briefly recap this week’s sermon. What are some of the things hindering you from becoming who God wants you to be?
2. Is there something specific you could remove from your life today that would help you become more like Jesus? Feel free to contemplate this question privately, or share your answer if you feel comfortable.
3. What does it mean to fall short of the grace of God? 
4. Reread Hebrews 12:12-13 aloud. Then read Isaiah 35:3 aloud: “Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, ‘Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.” Where do you see similar language in these two passages?
5. Isaiah touches on another factor in our war with sin: fear. How does fear keep us enslaved to sin? What hope does Isaiah offer for those with fearful hearts?

Week 4: How to Know Where You Are Going

Hebrews 12:18-29

1. What do you do when you feel directionless? Would anyone like to share about a season in your life when you felt directionless? How did you persevere? 
2. Read Hebrews 12:18-29 or briefly recap this week’s sermon. What does God seem to be promising in this passage? 
3. How does knowing where we are going impact how we persevere in this life?
4. Our annual theme for 2023 is Enter the Sanctuary. As Christians, our hope for today is based on our confidence that good is ahead. One day, God will fully and finally heal every hurt and make us whole. How can we offer this kind of hope-filled sanctuary to those around us?  
5. Looking back, what are some of your biggest takeaways from this sermon series on perseverance? 

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