Your Personal Grow-Pray-Study (GPS) Guide

This week we examine Hebrews 12:1 through the lens of the movie McFarland, USA. The message focused on you to find our calling in your greatest failure by: preparing, persisting, and pursuing.

You can also listen to this week's sermon or read the full PDF of the sermon message & GPS.

Monday: Read Hebrews 12:1-3 (New Century Version). Who is God using to make my faith sticky? Who does God want me to help to make their faith sticky?

Tuesday: Read Hebrews 12:1-3 (Contemporary English Version). What hinders and entangles my life? Who will show me?

Wednesday: Read Hebrews 12:1-3 (New International Version 2011). How am I developing perseverance for the race of my life?

Thursday: Read Hebrews 12:1-3 (The Message). Where do I see the course leading in the race God has asked me to run?

Friday: Read Hebrews 12:1-3 (New Living Translation). What takes my eyes off Jesus?

Saturday: Read Hebrews 12:1-3 (GOD’S WORD Translation). Where have I grown weary in life’s marathon? How can I fix my eyes on Jesus once again?

You can Go Deeper this week by reading the book The Colson Way: Loving Your Neighbor and Living with Faith in a Hostile World by Owen Strachan.

This week’s sermon message and GPS examines Matthew 18:14 as it is highlighted in the movie “Finding Nemo" (Can you find Nemo above?).

Monday: Read Romans 3:22-24. What does verse 23 say that we all have in common? Why is this important to remember each day? How do verses 22 and 24 tell us of God’s better gift and how His “never give up attitude” finds us and saves us? How do these verses teach us the good news of Jesus? How is your life different today because of God’s “never give up love” in Jesus?

Tuesday: Read Jeremiah 14:7. What is the basis of Jeremiah’s plea for God to act to save Israel? Jeremiah is not asking for justice, but pleading for mercy. Where do you need God’s mercy today?

Wednesday: Read 1 Timothy 2:3-4. What do these verses tell you about God’s heart? About how He feels towards you? About how He wants you to pray today?

Thursday: Read Matthew 18:12-14. Ever lost something or someone? What was that experience like? What drove you to keep searching? When have you felt like you wandered away from God? How did you get back? What “wandering sheep” will you pray for today?

Friday: Read 1 Timothy 1:14. Paul recognizes that his life and ministry flows out of God’s gift, God’s grace. How is God’s grace influencing how you live life today? How is that lived out with faith and love?

Saturday: Read 1 Timothy 1:12. Paul affirms that God has given him strength. Where do you feel a need for God’s strength? Who can you pray for today that they would be aware of God’s strength?

Next Week’s Movie: McFarland, USA. This PG movie from earlier this year and now on DVD, speaks of how out of our failures we often find our purpose. The cross country running is also a great picture of Hebrews 12 and running the race. The movie is based on a true story. If you watch the movie, make sure to watch through the credits!

You can also listen to this week's sermon or read the full PDF of the sermon message & GPS.

Monday: Read Hebrews 6:19-20. Life situations can change on a dime and where there was once hope, we can be left feeling hopeless. What does this reading say about this feeling? What is hope compared to in this passage? What can you do today to help remind you that Jesus is your sure and certain hope?

Tuesday: Read 1 Thessalonians 5:15. When was the last time in your life you felt the harsh, bitter winds of life blowing over you? What was that situation? How would the sudden appearance of kindness have helped you in that situation? Our faith in Jesus leads us to a life filled with acts of kindness. Pray that God would lead you to a day overflowing with kindness.

Wednesday: Read Romans 6:1-4. This was Sunday’s Epistle reading. It wonderfully describes the grace saturated act of baptism. Your baptism carried Jesus’ saving and forgiving death to you, which means that by grace, you will be raised from death to life everlasting. That is GRACE. Say a prayer of thanksgiving for His grace.

Thursday: Read Philippians 2:3-4. By God’s grace we are given life in Jesus and again by grace we are sent into the world to be Jesus’ light of grace. How does this passage exhort us to live as Jesus’ light of grace? What can you do today to humbly serve the needs of another?

Friday: Read John 15:9-11. Who doesn’t want joy in their life? Everyone wants it and is on a constant search for it. Where and in what have you and others searched for joy? In this reading, Jesus tells us that he loves us. That fact is our source of joy. Why should this bring joy to you today? Also, note that the joy He gives is complete. Praise God for that good news!

Saturday: Read 1 John 4:10-12. Why is it so significant that Jesus first loved us? How does this passage say Jesus first loved us? What does Verse 12 say happens when we love? When we love, God lives in us and so that means that our lives are giant billboards showing God’s amazing grace to the world. Go and bring that grace into the world!!

You can also listen to this week's sermon or read the full PDF of the sermon message & GPS.

Monday: Read Ephesians 6:12. In what way is the Christian life like a battle? Why is the Christian life like a battlefield? How can you lean on the Holy Spirit’s help in doing battle for the kingdom of God each day?

Tuesday: Read Romans 8:26-27. What do we learn about God’s love for us when we realize that the Holy Spirit helps us even when we cannot pray? In what circumstances of your life do you need to wait patiently for God to act? For what can you ask the Spirit’s help this week?

Wednesday: Read John 16:13. How does the Holy Spirit teach believers? About what truth is the Holy Spirit presently teaching you? What area of life do you need the Holy Spirit to teach and guide you?

Thursday: Read Hebrews 3:12. What circumstances or situations in your life are currently fostering an attitude of unbelief toward God? Where do you need to get your heart and life right with God?

Friday: Read John 1:4-5. What do the images of life and light tell you about why Jesus came to earth? How is Jesus bringing those images alive in your life? Who do you need to pray for God to bring life and light today?

Saturday: Read 1 Timothy 1:15. Why did Jesus come into the world? When you realize the price Jesus paid for you to be in His family, how is the Holy Spirit leading you to respond today?

You can also listen to this week's sermon or read the full PDF of the sermon message & GPS.

The sermon (you can listen here) for this week examines 1 Corinthians 12:27 as it is experienced in the Lego Movie. Everything is awesome when:

1. you are part of a team.
2. you realize the piece God has for you in life’s Legos.
3. you embrace whom God has made you to be.
4. I see what God can do through us together.

This week we look at how God has S.H.A.P.E.D. [Spiritual Gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality, Experiences, Developing] us to be special.

Monday: Read 1 Corinthians 12:7. Spiritual Gifts: God gives you supernatural talents to impact others. Do you know your spiritual gifts? How are you putting them to use? If you want to learn more about spiritual gifts, take the spiritual gift inventory at https://gifts.churchgrowth.org/cgi-cg/gifts.cgi?intro=1. What top gifts emerge from the inventory you took? What areas of ministry have people commented on that you’ve done well? When and where do you enjoy serving God the most?

Tuesday: Read Psalm 37:4. Heart: The passion for life God has planted deep within your soul. What specific, needs, issues or causes particularly touch your heart? How will you pray for them today?

Wednesday: Read Exodus 31:3. Abilities: Natural talents God has wired within your physical make up. What are three “doing what you do best” moments that you have experienced in life? What natural talents are common with those three items?

Thursday: Read Proverbs 22:6. Personality: The hard-wiring of your temperament that God has built in you. How has God wired your personality? Are you more of an introvert or extrovert? Do you find it easier to move into leadership or follower-ship? What have your family and friends affirmed about your personality? How does your personality influence the way you connect with others?

Friday: Read Deuteronomy 11:2. Experiences: Life lessons and life training God teaches through your daily life. What is God teaching you in your:

• Spiritual experiences: What have been the meaningful or decisive times with God in your life?
• Painful experiences: What lessons have you learned from the problems, hurts, and trials of life?
• Educational experiences: What were your favorite subjects in school? What areas of life do you like to study?
• Ministry experiences: How have you served God in the past?
• Work experiences: What jobs have you enjoyed and achieved results doing?

Saturday: Read Jeremiah 29:11. Developing: God works through the on-going process of dynamic discipleship development within you. Where do you sense God working in your life? As you look over this week’s GPS, what have you learned about God’s awesome work as He has S.H.A.P.E.D. you to connect with His mission of discipleship?

You can GO DEEPER this week by reading the book “S.H.A.P.E. Finding and Fulfilling Your Unique Purpose for Life” by Erik Rees.

Click here to download the full PDF of the sermon message and this week's GPS.