5.8.22 Huddle
Intro Question
- What is a trait, funny or serious, that your mother has instilled in you?
Lesson Intro: Jesus tells us that in this world we will have trouble. But He tells us to take heart because He has overcome the world. This week, Pastor Bret looks at how we can do this on a practical level by finding hope in what’s to come, and not the temporary things of this world.
Read and Discuss
1 Peter 1: 3-9,13 NIV
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls… 13 Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming.
- What is the “living hope” Peter is talking about?
- Compare and contrast the words Peter uses to describe hope through Jesus and the things of this world.
- Why is it sometimes easier to have temporal hope instead of ultimate hope?
- What are some practical ways you can put your hope in the resurrection of Jesus?
Philippians 1:21-24
For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.
Philippians 3:10-11
I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
- How does Paul’s hope play out…in his relationship with the Lord?
- …in his friendships?
- …with himself?
- What does Paul mean by “to live is Christ and to die is gain”?
- What would living like that look like in your day to day life?
Revelation 21:2-4
I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
1 John 3:2
Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
- What will be the fulfillment of our hope?
- How do these verses help us with our daily living?
- When things get bad in life, what is something you can do to remind yourself of these future hopes?
Challenge Questions
- What is something you are putting your hope in that is not from God? How can you give that over to the Lord this week?
Memory Verse
1 John 3:2
Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
Closing Prayer
Pray that the Lord would give you discernment in how to determine the difference between a temporal hope and the Ultimate hope that Jesus provides. Pray that the Lord would give you opportunities to share that hope with someone who does not yet know Jesus.