SERIES TITLE
En Fuego Week 1
series overview
When a player can’t miss a shot…
When the food is extra spicy…
When emotions are running high…
You could say it’s “En Fuego!” This summer, we’re diving into the fires we encounter – anger, bitterness, pain, and even the power of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives. Together, we’ll discover how God meets us in the middle of the heat and uses even difficult seasons to shape, strengthen, and transform us.
sermon TITLE
Combustible
weekend in review
Mike opens the four-week “En Fuego” series with a hard look at anger — what he calls “the second emotion.” Teaching from Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount, Mike shows how Jesus moves the standard for murder all the way back to anger in the heart, because God cares about what lies beneath our actions, not just the actions themselves. Using four relatable “anger styles” — the Trash Compactor, the Ventilator, the Prosecuting Attorney, and the Stealth Bomber — Mike helps us recognize our own patterns, then offers three practical steps for handling anger in a God-honoring way: reflect before you react, remember the results, and restrain your remarks.
WARM UP
What’s a small, honestly kind of ridiculous thing that irritates you way more than it should? Slow walkers, loud chewers, the spinning wheel of death, people who don’t use their blinker — what’s yours?
DISCUSSion
Select questions from the list below to guide your discussion time.
- Mike named four “anger styles” — the Trash Compactor (stuffs it and pouts), the Ventilator (blows up and lets it fly), the Prosecuting Attorney (litigates it and won’t let it go), and the Stealth Bomber (fires off passive-aggressive little jabs). Be honest — which one is most like you, and what made you pick it?
- Jesus moves the line from the act of murder all the way back to anger in the heart. Why do you think He does that? What does it tell us that God cares about “what lies beneath,” not just what we do? (Matthew 5:21-22)
- “Quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to get angry.” Which of those three is hardest for you right now, and where does it usually show up — home, work, traffic, group chats? (James 1:19-20)
- Mike said anger is the “second emotion” — it usually sits on top of a first one like hurt, fear, loneliness, or feeling unappreciated. Think of a recent time you got angry. What was the first emotion underneath it?
- David is furious in verses 19-22 — telling God exactly how he feels — and then prays, “Search me, know my heart.” What does it mean that he could bring God that much raw anger and still ask to be searched? What would praying this week actually look like for you? (Psalm 139:19-24)
- “Don’t let the sun go down on your anger… don’t give the devil a foothold.” Where are you currently “letting the sun go down” — carrying something unresolved? What’s one honest step toward dealing with it instead of stuffing it or feeding it? (Ephesians 4:26-27)
- Our words are a spark that can set a whole forest on fire. Where does your anger most often leak out — your words, your tone, or your thumbs (what you post)? Mike said we can’t tame the tongue on our own; what does leaning on God “in the moment” look like for you? (Proverbs 15:1 · James 3:5-8)
WRAP UP & PRAYER
Close your time together by praying as a group:
- Thank God that He cares about what lies beneath our anger, not just how it comes out.
- Ask Him to search your heart this week and show you what’s really fueling it.
- Pray for strength to reflect before you react and to restrain your words.
- Thank Jesus for absorbing our anger and rage on the cross, and ask Him to help you offer forgiveness instead of retaliation.