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What’s a personal milestone or challenge you’ve recently overcome, and what helped you get through it?

Please read Hebrews 12:1-2 and then Isaiah 26:3 aloud.

     • What specific distractions or fears do you need to lay aside, so you can rest in the perfect peace that God promises?

     • How do you define “perfect peace” and is it attainable?

Please read Philippians 3:8-11 and Proverbs 3:5-6 aloud.

     • How does trusting God with all your heart invite you into a deeper, more eternal perspective?

     • What does eternal perspective mean?

Please read Micah 6:8 and 2 Timothy 4:6-8 aloud.

     • How does Micah’s call to humble, just, and merciful living shape the kind of legacy you want to leave like Paul describes in his final days?

    • What does it look like to keep the faith daily, in small acts of justice and mercy, so that we can say we have fought the good fight and kept the faith?

1 Corinthians 9:24 NIV
"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize."

     • How are you currently running your race of faith - intentional and focused or drifting? How can we run with more purpose and resolve?

Lord, our God, please help us apply the message from this week. You have laid the truth before us today, thank you. Help us to count all things as loss compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ. Teach us to trust You with all our hearts, not leaning on our own understanding, and give us the strength to walk humbly, act justly, and love mercy in every step. As we go from here, Lord, help us focus on a strong finish, with our eyes fixed on You, and our faith anchored in Your promises. In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

Pause and reflect on how God is calling me to turn toward Him today.  How does the certainty of God’s coming justice give me both urgency and hope as I live out my faith this week?

Acts 17:30,31 NLT
“God overlooked people’s ignorance . . . in earlier times, but
now he commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him. For he has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man he has appointed, and he proved to
everyone who does this is by raising him from the dead.”

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We’ve all felt out of place at some point - think of a time you felt like that, how did you respond to the situation?

Please read Acts 8:26-31 and then Isaiah 53:7-8 aloud.

     • When was a time in your life you encountered something meaningful but didn’t fully understand it until someone came alongside you to guide you?

     • Have you ever been a religious outsider? How did you handle that?

Jonah 2:6 GNT
"I went down to the very roots of the mountains, into the land whose gates lock shut forever. BUT You, O Lord my God, brought me back from the depths alive."

     • How do both Jonah’s rescue from the depths and the jailer's transformation after the earthquake show that no situation is beyond God’s power to bring hope? (see Acts 16:26-31)

Please read 1 Kings 17:17-24 and Acts 9:36-41 aloud.

     • What do these moments above teach us about how God uses people to bring hope to others?

Please read Acts 2:31-33 aloud.

     • How does the promise of new life and the gift of the Holy Spirit challenge us to think about how we live out our faith today?

     • What will you do to put faith into action next week?

Lord, we thank You that resurrection is not distant, but near for each of us. For those who’ve felt like outsiders, show them they belong. For those who feel like life is falling apart, bring Your restoring power. And for those quietly faithful, remind them You see them - give them boldness to tell others about your resurrection power. May Your resurrection Life fill every corner of our hearts. Amen

As you go, take one moment this week to reflect on where you’ve seen a glimpse of hope-whether in your own life, in someone else’s, or in a quiet moment. Jot it down and remind yourself that resurrection hope is still at work-right where you are.

Romans 15:13 ESV
"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope."