The FIVE Sermons

When we learn to be grateful for what we have and content with what we lack, peace is ours in abundance.

Next Steps

Put into your own words what you heard this week.

Reflect on something that seemed good and right in the moment, but in hindsight you can now see was no good for you. If you could go back in the future, what would your present-self tell your past-self to do different?

What do you think it means to say, “Trust in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart?”

Why is it hopeful news to know that God does not give to us as the world gives to us? How would you apply this truth to your life today?

What is one thing you want to start or stop this week after hearing this week’s message?

Learning from the mistakes of others may make one wise, but is this necessarily ‘wisdom from above’?

Next Steps

Think about the last thing someone said to you that made you feel amazing – what was it about those words that stirred such a reaction in you?

Think back on the last conversation you had with someone that didn’t go well. What did you say in the midst of that conversation? How might your words have added to the challenging nature of that conversation?

Is there someone you’ve hurt with your words recently? Get in contact with them and use your words to make things right.

Go out of your way this week to encourage someone with your words – speak hope and love and beauty and truth into someone’s life.

Actions may speak louder than words but words can say more than we realize.

Next Steps

Think about the last thing someone said to you that made you feel amazing – what was it about those words that stirred such a reaction in you?

Think back on the last conversation you had with someone that didn’t go well. What did you say in the midst of that conversation? How might your words have added to the challenging nature of that conversation?

Is there someone you’ve hurt with your words recently? Get in contact with them and use your words to make things right.

Go out of your way this week to encourage someone with your words – speak hope and love and beauty and truth into someone’s life.

We can’t hold faith in a God who shows no favoritism while we ourselves show favoritism against others.

Next Steps

Heart: When have you been hurt by favoritism? Reflect on how that experience affected you.

Mind: Why do you think we are so quick to base a person’s value on what they have, where they are from or what they can do?

Soul: Read James 2:1-13 and then take a look at the Gospels. How does Jesus interact with people who culturally speaking, are considered "less than”?

Strength: In what ways might you be inadvertently favoring some people over others? What would it look like to change this?

Neighbors: Go out of your way this week to show someone marginalized in our culture that they are lovingly created in the image of God.

Want to go deeper? We’ve got two Bible studies kicking off this week where we’ll be studying the Book of James. They’re both on Wednesdays. The first is at 10 AM at Brickhouse Coffee and the other is at 7 PM at the Panera in Oviedo. We’ll be following the same section of texts covered in the sermon so we can go deeper into the text and key in on areas we didn’t touch on in the sermon. Hope you can make it!

What do you do when you wait for God to do what only God can do? Be slow to anger, be doers not just hearers, and as strange as it sounds to our ears today, be religious, very, very religious.

Next Steps

HEART: How well do you manage your emotions or do you tend to let your emotions manage you? Reflect on some experiences where your emotions got the best of you. What do those situations reveal to you today?

MIND: We are responsible for what we know, for what we’ve heard. What truth from God’s word do you find yourself downplaying or making excuses for. Why do you think that is?

SOUL: James 1:26-27 reveals that real religion has a social dynamic (care for orphans/widows) and a personal dynamic (keeping oneself unstained). Which dynamic do you tend to overlook? How might that be causing your religion to be, to use the words of James, “worthless”?

STRENGTH: What one change will you make this week for your religion to be more ‘pure’ than it is today? Find someone to share this with so they can help you follow through.

NEIGHBOR: Chances are, we’ve hurt someone at some point with our words and/or anger. Follow up with someone who you need to make things right based on how your anger or emotions got the best of you.

Want to go deeper? We’ve got two Bible studies kicking off this week where we’ll be studying the Book of James. They’re both on Wednesdays. The first is at 10 AM at Brickhouse Coffee and the other is at 7 PM at the Panera in Oviedo. We’ll be following the same section of texts covered in the sermon so we can go deeper into the text and key in on areas we didn’t touch on in the sermon. Hope you can make it!

How we respond to hardships says more about our understanding of God’s nature than the nature of our circumstances.

Next Steps

HEART: Reflect on a time when God brought about something good in your life through something that in of itself was not good.

MIND: How do you tend to handle conflicts and hardships? Reflect on the effect these things tend to have on your faith and character?

SOUL: Read James 1:1-18 this week and ask God to grow in both your understanding of this text and its application in your life.

STRENGTH: Where do you need perseverance and patience today? Ask God to give you the strength to see beyond the circumstance and trust His character.

NEIGHBOR: Who is someone you know that is struggling under difficult circumstances today? Do something to come alongside them in their hardship and let them know they’re not alone.

Want to go deeper? We’ve got two Bible studies kicking off this week where we’ll be studying the Book of James. They’re both on Wednesdays. The first is at 10 AM at Brickhouse Coffee and the other is at 7 PM at the Panera in Oviedo. We’ll be following the same section of texts covered in the sermon so we can go deeper into the text and key in on areas we didn’t touch on in the sermon. Hope you can make it!