Small Group Discussion Guide

"What Are You Looking At?" by Pastor Mirek Hufton

1. SERMON RECAP

Pastor Mirek Hufton preached from Hebrews 11:39 through 12:2, focusing on the phrase "looking away to Jesus" as the only reliable antidote to the world's constant pressure to shrink our identity and conform our thinking. He challenged the congregation to recognize that the internal picture we carry of ourselves directly shapes the life we live out, for better or worse. He called believers to ruthlessly reject every diminishing image the enemy plants and to cultivate instead the God-given picture of who we truly are in Christ.

2. KEY SCRIPTURE

Hebrews 12:1-2 (NKJV)

"Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

3. ICE BREAKER

Think of a time when someone believed in you more than you believed in yourself. What did that feel like, and did it change anything about how you acted?

4. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Question 1 Pastor Mirek repeated the phrase, "The you you see is the you you will be." What do you think he meant by that, and does that idea line up with what you see in Scripture? Where have you seen this principle play out, positively or negatively, in your own life?

Question 2 He described the world as constantly working to "squeeze us into its mold," drawing on Romans 12:2. In practical, everyday terms, what does that pressure actually look like for people in your group? Where do you feel it most?

Question 3 Pastor Mirek made a distinction between self-help thinking, which operates on the level of the mind, and genuine biblical faith, which he said operates in the Spirit. What is the difference between those two things in your experience? Why does that distinction matter?

Question 4 He spoke about the joy Jesus saw "set before Him" on the cross, arguing that Jesus was picturing each of us stepping into our full God-given potential. How does it change the way you think about your own struggles and limitations when you consider that Jesus endured the cross partly for the joy of seeing you become who God made you to be?

Question 5 Pastor Mirek pointed out that some of the most diminishing voices in our lives can come from the people closest to us, family members and long-standing friends who think they already know who we are. How does a person honor those relationships while still refusing to let those voices define them? What does that look like in a healthy, godly way?

Question 6 Second Corinthians 5:7 says we walk by faith and not by sight. Pastor Mirek connected this to "looking away" to Jesus rather than to the circumstances, the news, or the narratives of the world. What are the specific things you currently find it hardest to look away from, and what would it take to redirect that focus toward Jesus?

5. APPLICATION CHALLENGE

This week, each group member should identify one specific negative or limiting picture they have been carrying about themselves, whether it concerns finances, relationships, health, or personal identity, write it down on paper, and then write beside it a corresponding promise from Scripture that directly contradicts it. Each person should then read that promise aloud to themselves every morning before checking any news, social media, or phone notifications, putting the Word first as a deliberate act of "looking away" to Jesus before looking at the world.

6. PRAYER POINTS

• Pray that each group member would develop a clear and growing picture of who they are in Christ, rooted in Scripture and not shaped by the world's narratives or other people's limitations.

• Pray for the courage to recognize and reject thoughts, voices, and habits that diminish the identity God has given each person, and for the spiritual discipline to replace those with the truth of God's Word.

• Pray for breakthrough in the specific areas where group members are tempted to see themselves as grasshoppers rather than as children of the living God, trusting that the same joy Jesus saw on the cross is still what He sees when He looks at each person in the group today.

7. MEMORY VERSE

Hebrews 12:2a (NKJV)

"Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

Guide prepared for small group use based on the sermon "What Are You Looking At?" Use these questions as a starting point, and let the Holy Spirit lead your conversation where it needs to go.