Run the Race

Grace Community Church - Loveland, CO

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Run the Race

Hebrews 12:1-3

April 16, 2023 • Erik Miller • Hebrews 12:1–3

Main Point: Perspective fuels endurance.

Questions:

1. What impacted you from the message this weekend? What challenged you or encouraged you? What did you learn about perspective and endurance?

2. How does the example of a race help Christians to understand the way we live out our faith during the difficulties of life?

3. Read Hebrews 12:1. What is the “Therefore” there for? How the writer of Hebrews connect this verse to the previous section? What does it mean that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses?

4. What is the difference between getting rid of things in our lives that hinder faith, and sin that trips us up? Are there things that distract you from what is truly important in life?

5. Read Hebrews 12:2. Human examples are important, but Jesus is our ultimate example. What does it mean that He is the pioneer and perfecter of faith?

6. What does it mean that Jesus scorned the shame of the cross? What is the basis of Jesus’ joy that allowed him to endure the cross? How does this provide an example for Christ followers when we have trouble in life?

7. Read Hebrews 12:3. Can you think of time in your journey with Christ when you felt weary, or you lost heart? What did that feel like? How does the example of Jesus provide perspective and strength in dealing with opposition and difficulty?

8. What is one thing you can do this week to put into practice what you learned in this message?

The Unshakeable Kingdom and Its Holy King

May 21, 2023 • Erik Miller • Hebrews 12:25–29

Main Point: We will inherit an unshakable Kingdom. Questions: 1. What impacted you from the message this weekend? What challenged you or encouraged you? What did you learn about God’s character in the passage studied? 2. Read Hebrews 12:25-29. What strikes you about this passage? What words do you notice? In your own words, what is the main message of these verses? 3. What is the author of Hebrews calling his readers to do? How should we respond? 4. Read Hebrews 12:25. What is the author warning the reader not to do? What comparison does he make? What happened when the people refused God speaking through Moses? What will happen when people refuse to listen to Jesus? 5. Read Hebrews 12:26-27. God shook the Earth at Mt. Sinai and promises He will shake the Earth again. What is different about the final shaking? 6. What things can be shaken and what things can’t be shaken? What perspective does this provide about the material world? 7. Read Hebrews 12:28-29. What confidence do these verses give the follower of Christ? How are followers of Christ called to worship God? How do we live our lives in worship of God? 8. What does it mean that “God is a consuming fire”? Does that change the way you understand the character of God? 9. What is one thing you can do this week to put into practice what you learned in this message?

The Unshakeable Kingdom – Mt Sinai and Mt Zion

May 14, 2023 • Erik Miller • Hebrews 12:18–24

Main Point: Through the work of Jesus, we can approach God with joy and without fear. Questions: 1. What impacted you from the message this weekend? What challenged you or encouraged you? What did you learn about the character of God in the passage studied? 2. Read Hebrews 12:18-24. What are the two places being compared in these verses? Beyond the physical locations, what other things are being compared in these verses? 3. What words, feelings, and emotions are characteristic of Mount Sinai? What words, feelings, and emotions are characteristic of Mount Zion? 4. Read Hebrews 12:18-21. What event is the author of Hebrews describing? (See Exodus 19- 20 for reference.) Why are the people afraid? 5. What does this passage communicate about the holiness of God? Why is understanding the holiness of God important to understanding God’s character? 6. How does understanding God’s holiness help us to understand the significance of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross? How does it help us to appreciate the grace of God? 7. Read Hebrews 12:22-24. Describe the picture the author of Hebrews paints of the future heavenly Jerusalem. Who will be there? How are they described? 8. How is God described in these verses? How is Jesus described? What does it mean that Jesus is the mediator o the new covenant? 9. How is the sacrifice of Jesus better than the sacrifice offered by Abel? 10. What is one thing you can do this week to put into practice what you learned in this message?

The Challenge-Live Holy Lives

May 7, 2023 • Erik Miller • Hebrews 12:14–17

Main Point: Continue to grow to be like Jesus and help others to do the same. Questions: 1. What impacted you from the message this weekend? What challenged you or encouraged you? 2. Read Hebrews 12:14-17. What words and ideas stick out to you in these verses? Do you have any questions? What is the writer of these verses saying? 3. Read Hebrews 12:14. What does it mean to make every effort to live in peace with everyone? What keeps us from being at peace with others? What does living in peace with everyone look like in your life? (See Romans 12:17-18.) 4. If Christians are declared holy by faith in Jesus, what does it mean to make every effort to be holy? Why is a pursuit of holiness so important to our spiritual growth? (See 1 Peter 1:13-16 and Matthew 5:58.) 5. Read Hebrews 12:15. What does it meant of fall short of the grace of God? How might people miss the grace of God? How do we know we have received God’s grace? 6. Read Deuteronomy 29:18. How does this help us understand the bitter root that the author of Hebrews is writing about? What is the bitter root? What does the bitter root cause? 7. Read Hebrews 12:16-17. How is Esau sexual immorality tied to his godlessness? How do his misplaced values lead to the bad decision he made? What does this situation reveal about choosing temporal comfort over eternal inheritance? 8. What parallels is the author of Hebrews making between Esau and those people in the church that might potential abandon their claim to follow Jesus? What is the warning for those who would choose not to follow Jesus? 9. What is one thing you can do this week to put into practice what