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Always Forward
In this message, Pastor Mirek Hufton challenges the congregation to stop drifting through life and instead pursue a singular, God-given purpose: knowing Jesus Christ more deeply than ever before. Drawing from Paul's consuming passion in Philippians, Pastor Hufton makes a critical distinction, we must be purpose-driven, not merely goal-driven. Goals can fail. Purpose doesn't. Our unchanging purpose is to become like Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29), and everything else flows from that. The memorable illustration comes from missionary history: Moravian missionaries who planted churches in the frozen wilderness of Labrador in the late 1700s, considered nobodies by the world. Yet decades later, Dr. Winfred Grenfell discovered entire Inuit communities who knew Christ because those "nobodies" gave everything. God specializes in taking nobodies and making them somebodies for eternity. The call is clear: press closer to Jesus in 2021, take risks for God, and watch His blessings accelerate beyond anything you've yet experienced.
Related Sermons
Small Group Guide
Always Forward
Small Group Discussion Guide
Based on the sermon by Pastor Mirek Hufton
1. SERMON RECAP
Pastor Mirek Hufton challenged the congregation to move beyond goal-driven living and embrace a purpose-driven life centered on knowing Jesus Christ more deeply. He reminded us that God knew each of us before we were born and has placed a specific calling and destiny on every life, pointing to Jeremiah 1:5 as the foundation for that truth. He pressed the church to press forward in 2021, shedding everything that holds us back from a deeper, more surrendered relationship with Jesus.
2. KEY SCRIPTURE
Romans 8:29
"For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters."
3. ICE BREAKER
Think of a time you set a goal and either reached it or fell short of it. How did reaching or missing that goal affect your sense of purpose? Share briefly with the group.
4. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Pastor Mirek drew a distinction between being goal-driven and being purpose-driven, arguing that goals are submitted to purpose rather than the other way around. What do you think the difference looks like in everyday life? Can you think of a personal example where chasing a goal actually pulled you away from your deeper purpose?
2. He pointed to Romans 8:29 and said that God's primary interest is in our character, not our comfort, and that we were created to become like Jesus Christ. How does that idea sit with you honestly? In what areas of your life do you find yourself more focused on comfort than on character?
3. Pastor Mirek described how Paul said his one consuming passion was to know Christ, and he challenged the group to ask themselves whether knowing Jesus is genuinely their one priority or whether it has become one item among many on a crowded list. What tends to compete most for that top spot in your own life?
4. He talked about how the closer we get to Jesus, the less self-centered we become, and the further we drift from him, the more life becomes about our own wants, feelings, and comfort. Where do you see that pattern playing out in your own experience, either positively or negatively?
5. Pastor Mirek referenced Jesus in John 17, saying that Jesus came to glorify the Father by finishing the work he was given to do, and he held that up as a model for every believer. What do you believe the specific work is that God has given you to do in this season of your life? What is making it difficult to pursue that wholeheartedly?
6. He challenged the congregation to take a risk and sell out completely to Jesus, saying that the priests in Joshua's account had to step into the floodwaters before the miracle happened. Is there a step of obedience you have been holding back on? What would it look like for you to put your foot in the water this week?
5. APPLICATION CHALLENGE
This week, each group member should set aside one specific thirty-minute block of time, chosen before leaving this meeting and written down, to be alone with God in prayer with no phone, no background noise, and no agenda other than asking God one question: "What is the work you have given me to do right now?" Come back to the group next week prepared to share what you sensed, even if the answer felt incomplete or surprising.
6. PRAYER POINTS
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Pray that each group member would develop a genuine, growing hunger to know Jesus personally rather than simply knowing about him, and that this hunger would shape every decision made in the coming week.
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Pray for courage where group members are aware of a specific step of obedience they have been avoiding, asking God to meet them at the moment they choose to act, just as the waters parted when the priests stepped forward.
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Pray that the group as a whole would become increasingly purpose-driven rather than comfort-driven, and that their shared commitment to pressing forward would sharpen and encourage one another throughout the year.
7. MEMORY VERSE
Romans 8:29
"For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters."
Daily Devotional
You Were Known Before You Were Born
Jeremiah 1:5 — "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."
I want you to hear this straight from my heart — God knew your name before your mother did. Before the doctor announced you, before anyone celebrated your arrival, heaven already had a file on you. You weren't an accident. You weren't a surprise. You were appointed. I've watched people drift through life wondering why they feel empty, and the answer is almost always the same — they've never grabbed hold of the reality that God has a specific plan wired into their DNA. Your purpose isn't something you invent. It's something you discover. And you discover it by pressing into Jesus, not by chasing what the world calls success. Start this week by settling this one thing in your spirit: I was created on purpose, for a purpose, by a God who loves me completely.
Lord, thank You that You knew me before I took my first breath. Help me this week to stop questioning my value and start seeking Your plan. I want to know why You put me here.
Purpose Over Goals
Matthew 6:33 — "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."
I see it every single January — people writing goals on napkins, in journals, on apps. Lose weight. Read more. Get out of debt. And listen, those aren't bad things. But I've learned something the hard way: goals without purpose will leave you empty even when you achieve them. Purpose is the engine. Goals are just the wheels. When I left business to answer God's call into ministry, that wasn't a goal I'd written down — it was a purpose that grabbed me by the collar and wouldn't let go. Seek first the kingdom. That's not a suggestion tucked into a sermon — that's the operating system God designed for your life. When your purpose is rooted in knowing Jesus and making Him known, every goal you set underneath that purpose starts to carry real eternal weight. Stop being goal-driven. Become purpose-driven.
Jesus, I confess I've been chasing goals more than I've been chasing You. Reset my priorities today. Let everything I plan this year flow out of seeking Your kingdom first.
The Still Small Voice
Romans 8:14 — "For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God."
I keep telling people — God doesn't shout through the clatter. Remember Elijah hiding in that cave? The wind came. The lightning cracked. The rocks split open. But God wasn't in any of it. It wasn't until everything got completely quiet that God spoke in that still small voice. That's exactly what I believe He wants to do with you this week. We've filled our lives with so much noise — scrolling, streaming, endless opinions — and then we wonder why we can't hear Him. I'm not apologizing for saying this: you need to get alone with God. Fast a meal. Come to prayer. Turn the phone off for an hour. I promise you, when you quiet yourself before Him, He will speak to you about your future, your family, your next step. The Holy Ghost is not hiding. We're just too loud to hear Him.
Holy Spirit, I quiet myself before You right now. Forgive me for filling every silence with noise. Speak to me today — I'm listening and I genuinely want to hear Your voice.
A Nobody Who Became a Somebody
1 Corinthians 1:27 — "But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong."
I love this verse because it wrecks every worldly measuring stick we carry around. The world will tell you that you need the right degree, the right connections, the right zip code to matter. But I've read the biographies of missionaries who walked away from comfort and reputation — doctors who traded prestigious practices for frozen coastlines and remote villages — and they became some of the greatest somebodies in heaven's record books. God doesn't need your impressive résumé. He needs your surrendered heart. The devil isn't afraid of your talent. He's afraid of your anointing. And your anointing grows in direct proportion to your obedience and your closeness to Jesus. Stop trying to build a name in a world that's passing away. Get so close to Jesus that when you walk into a room, darkness has to back up. That's the kind of somebody I want to be.
Father, I release my need to impress people today. I'd rather be a nobody the world overlooks than a somebody who doesn't know You. Use my weakness for Your glory.
Always Forward — Press In and Don't Stop
John 17:4 — "I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do."
This verse from Jesus stops me every single time I read it. Standing on the edge of the cross, He looked at the Father and said — I finished it. Everything You gave me to do, I did it. That's my goal. That's what I want to say when I stand before God one day. Not that I played it safe. Not that I kept everyone comfortable. But that I finished the work He gave me. And I'm telling you — that same finish line exists for your life too. You have an assignment with your name on it. The anointing comes when you step into the water like those priests at the Jordan — not before, but the moment your foot hits the current. Stop waiting for perfect conditions. Stop waiting until you feel ready. Press in. Go forward. Get more of Jesus in 2025 than you've ever had before, and watch what God does with a life that's fully surrendered.
Lord Jesus, I want to finish well. I want to stand before You one day and say I did what You gave me to do. Give me courage today to take the next step forward in faith.