SCRIPTURE: Daniel 1, Daniel 6, & Luke 2:25-38

REFLECTION/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. When was a time in your life that you have found it easy to wait in hope for something? What was that? Or something that was hard to hope for?

2. What specific structures/practices do you have in your life to intentionally connect with God and get to know him better?

3. Do you agree that when we participate in spiritual disciplines, we can persevere in hope more readily? Why do you think this is true (or not)? Can you think of an example from your life? 

4. Is there a habit you would like to add (or stop) in your life rhythm that would allow you to more easily hold onto hope and see the beauty and truth of Christ? Make a plan to do so and think of someone who you can share your plan with.

SCRIPTURE: Mark 10:35-45

REFLECTION/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. Where are you placing your trust?

2. What makes you feel afraid right now?

3. What might God be trying to show you or teach you about where you tend to place your trust?

4. How might Jesus make the “leap to faith” Kenny talked about in this message easier?

5. Do you ever wonder how Christian faith benefits you? What do you make of Kenny’s claim that “Serving others is living the fullest life”? Do you think that’s true? Do you find it difficult to believe?

SCRIPTURE: Exodus 2-3, Deuteronomy 33:26-27

SUMMARY: We all want to believe a world of beauty, truth, and purpose. We struggle to believe in this when “God doesn’t fit in the houses we build for him.” The Moses story teaches us that the “houses” are the problem--not God! We can shift our trust from those houses (re: our logic, ourselves) to a relationship with God himself. Trust in the Person of Hope.

REFLECTION/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. What do we all “want to believe” is true about the world, according to this message? Do you agree/disagree?

2. Kenny argues that the reason we struggle to hold on to our beliefs about the world/God when we face disappointment is because “God doesn’t fit in the house we make for him.” What do you think this means? Do you do this sometimes? When is a time when your faith has been stretched?

3. What lesson can we draw from Moses’s story (specifically, that God eventually uses Moses to perform the same task Moses once sought out to do on his own)? What do we learn about God in this story?

4. Kenny said that we should trade the “houses” we make for God for a relationship with him. What do you think this means? How might we be challenged by it?

5. What is the hardest thing for you to hold onto hope for? How might renewing your relationship with God help?