Stonegate Church Podcast

Before your group meets, take a few minutes with these:

1. Read Acts 2:36-41 slowly. Notice the order: Peter preaches, people are cut to the heart, they believe, then they're baptized.
2. Think through your own baptism story — or the fact that you haven't yet. What did it mean, or what's kept you from it?
3. Pray for someone in your life who hasn't taken that first step. Ask God to give them a heart like the 3,000 in Acts 2.

1. Where do you see the pattern of hear, believe, obey in your own story with Jesus — and where are you in that sequence right now?
2. Baptism means ‘I've decided who I'm following,’ not ‘I've figured everything out.’ What are you waiting to have figured out before you take a next step with Jesus?
3. If you've believed but haven't been baptized, what's the honest reason you've put it off?
4. What's one next step of obedience — baptism or something else — you've been putting off, and what would it look like to say yes this week?

Don't let the conversation stop at the door.

• Have you ever seen someone get baptized? What was that like?
• What's one ‘first step’ you remember taking that felt scary at the time?
• If Jesus asked you to do one brave thing this week, what do you think it'd be?

Memory verse this week — read it, say it, learn it together:

Table Talks continues next week as we look at what it means to live in community. But today is still a big day — if you're being baptized, we're celebrating with you. If you're not yet, we hope today gave you a clear picture of what it means to say yes to Jesus.

Keep taking your next step. Whether that's baptism, joining a community group, or something only you and Jesus know about — don't let this be the week you just talk about it. Let it be the week you do it.

Sex was never meant to be hidden or hyped — God designed it for a place, a purpose, and a person. This week's discussion guide walks through 1 Corinthians 6-7 and Genesis 2, helping you and your group process what the Bible actually says about sex, brokenness, and grace. Includes reflection questions, table talk prompts for families, and a companion article for parents navigating this conversation with their kids.

Before your group meets, take a few minutes with these:

1. Read 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 and 7:2-5 slowly. Notice where your view of sex has been shaped more by culture or past hurt than by God's design.
2. Sit with one question honestly: which lie about sex — casual, essential, or merely physical — do you find easiest to believe?
3. Pray Paul's words over yourself: 'I am not my own, but belong to God.' Ask him to make your group a place of surrender, not shame.

1. Where have you seen sex pulled out of its place — in your own story or in the culture around you?
2. Scripture calls us to flee sexual immorality. Where do you need to flee — and what would that look like practically this week?
3. Is there a next step of obedience in this area you've been putting off — a conversation, a boundary, a decision?
4. You've been washed, sanctified, and justified (1 Corinthians 6:11). Which is hardest to believe about yourself — and how would believing it change this week?

Don't let the conversation stop at the door.

• What's one gift God has given our family that's easy to take for granted?
• Where do you see our culture telling a different story than God does about love and marriage?
• A little boy once asked his mom, 'What does God do all day?' She said, 'He fixes broken things.' What's one broken thing you'd love for God to fix?

Memory verse this week — read it, say it, learn it together:

Our whole church family will be together for Enjoy Weekend, August 20-22.

It all culminates on Sunday with baptisms all day, in every service. Come celebrate what Jesus has done in people's lives, and see what he might be inviting you into next.

Companion Resource

A pastoral guide for parents on talking with your kids about sex.

Marriage isn't something we invented — it's something we were given. Genesis 2 shows a God who designed marriage before sin ever touched the world. Ephesians 5 shows why: every marriage is a picture of something bigger than the two people in it. This week we ask what marriage is actually for, and why we were never meant to carry it alone.

August 9, 2026 · Genesis 2:18–25, Ephesians 5:31–32

August 9, 2026 · Genesis 2:18-25, Ephesians 5:31-32

Marriage: It's Bigger Than You

Marriage is a gift, not our invention. God designed marriage before sin ever entered the world. It's his idea to define, not ours to redefine.

One flesh means a life fully shared. Marriage is a comprehensive oneness — two lives, one story, held together without shame or hiding.

Earthly marriage points past itself. Every marriage exists to be seen through, not just seen — a living picture of Jesus giving his life for his bride.

Don't fight for your marriage alone. When your marriage is struggling, slow down before it becomes a crisis. Let your pastors and your community in — you were never meant to carry this by yourself.

Loving well starts with being loved first. We can't manufacture sacrificial love on our own. We love our spouse only after we've been loved by Jesus.

Before your group meets, take a few minutes with these:

Don't let the conversation stop at the door.

Memory verse this week — read it, say it, learn it together:

We love because he first loved us. — 1 John 4:19

We're continuing our new series called Table Talks: honest conversations about marriage, sex, community, money, and what it looks like to enjoy Jesus in the middle of life.

A Note for Parents

Our Sunday message on August 16 is covering the conversation around sex. We'd encourage parents to use discernment for any kids under the age of 10. This sermon will create great discipleship discussion for your older children.

Companion Resource

10 Diagnostic Questions for Marriage

Only Jesus Satisfies · stonegate.church · Midlothian, TX

After the golden calf, Moses asks God for one thing: let me see Your glory. God says no — but He gives something better. He tells Moses exactly who He is: merciful, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love. It's God's own definition of Himself, and it's still how He wants to be known today. But hidden inside that definition is a contradiction. God forgives sin. God will not clear the guilty. Both are true — and both can't be, unless something makes a way. Exodus asks the question. The cross answers it.

August 2, 2026 · Exodus 34:6-7, Romans 3:21-26

The God Contradiction

God defines Himself as merciful first. When God finally tells Moses who He is, mercy leads the list — not anger or judgment.

His compassion is like a mother's love. The word for mercy comes from the word for womb. God isn't just sympathetic — He's bound to us.

God is patient, not passive. Slow to anger means God doesn't rush to punish, even when we deserve it. His steadfast love — hesed — is loyal, "not going anywhere" love.

Justice and forgiveness meet at the cross. God forgives sin, and will not clear the guilty — both are true. Jesus is how. He was punished so we could be forgiven.

Before your group meets, take a few minutes with these:

Don't let the conversation stop at the door.

This fall, We're starting a new series called Table Talks: honest conversations about marriage, sex, community, money, and what it looks like to enjoy Jesus in the middle of life.

Until We're satisfied in Jesus, we'll keep looking for security in the wrong places, in relationships, in bank accounts, in belonging. Scripture speaks directly into all of it, and we want to sit down and talk about it together, as a church family.

Our Sunday message on August 16 is covering the conversation around sex. We'd encourage parents to use discernment for any kids under the age of 10. This sermon will create great discipleship discussion for your older children.

We're moving to three services — 8, 9:45, and 11:30. Pick one and we'll see you there.

God offered Israel everything He promised — the land, the victory, the future — but told them He wouldn't go with them. And they mourned. They were learning what we're still learning: God is not the way to the blessing. God is the blessing.

Exodus 33 puts two questions in front of us. Do you really want God, or do you just want what He gives? And if sin separates us from Him, how could we possibly have Him at all? Moses answers the first. Jesus answers the second.

July 26, 2026  ·  Exodus 33:1-17

Set Free to Be Satisfied  ·  Part 14

God is the gift, not just the giver. When God offered Israel the land without His

Our hearts drift toward gifts over God. Demas walked away from Paul “in love

Jesus brings us back to God. Moses interceded for an unfavored people from his

The best day is still ahead. One day we will see His face. Every longing we've

Before your group meets, take a few minutes with these:

Don't let the conversation stop at the door.

Exodus has shown us the truth: God sets His people free so they can have Him. We've been

Pray for our church this week. Ask God to keep our hearts hungry for Him. Then come next