SERIES TITLE
En Fuego Week 4
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
Refined
weekend in review
Mike shifts the En Fuego series to a different kind of fire in Week 3: Consumed. He contrasts our culture’s consumer mindset, even the way we can approach church and God along with the call to be consumed by God as living sacrifices. Using the dramatic showdown between Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, Mike shows how Israel had wavered between two opinions, chasing powerless idols instead of the true and living God. The turning point is surrender: trading our own willpower for God’s power, and moving from asking “what’s in it for me” to laying our whole lives on the altar.
WARM UP
Tell us about a “trial by fire” moment that actually turned out okay — a job interview, a first day, a time you got thrown in the deep end and somehow survived.
DISCUSSion
Pick what fits your group. Aim to go deep on a few rather than skim all seven.
- Peter says trials refine our faith like fire purifies gold — and he says “when,” not “if.” Where has heat in your life revealed “what lies beneath” — what has a fire exposed in you, good or hard? [1 Peter 1:6-7]
- Raw gold is heated so the impurities (“dross”) rise and get skimmed off — over and over — until the refiner can see his reflection. What “dross” do you sense God wanting to skim off in this season of your life?
- “Our God is able to rescue us… but even if He doesn’t.” What’s the significance of that “but even if He doesn’t”? Is your faith anchored in what God does for you, or in who He is? [Daniel 3:16-18]
- If ___ then God. Instead of “If this happens then my life is over,” you pre-fill the second blank with God. What’s an “if” you’re carrying right now — and what does it look like to fill in “then God”?
- The three guys were turned in out of envy — which Mike defined as “resenting God’s goodness in someone else’s life while ignoring His goodness in mine.” Where does envy sneak into your heart? Or are you maybe on the receiving end of someone else’s envy right now?
- “When you go through the fire… I will be with you.” Where do you most need to hear that God is with you in the fire right now, not just waiting on the other side? [Isaiah 43:2-3]
- “They didn’t even smell like smoke.” Some people carry old fires as bitterness forever; others come through, and you’d never know. What makes the difference? What would it look like for one of your past fires to become a “platform” instead of the smell of smoke?
WRAP UP & PRAYER
Close your time together by praying as a group:
- Thank God for walking with you through the fires of this four-week series, and ask Him to reveal anything else you have been bowing down to.
- Ask God to show you what “dross” He wants to burn away and skim off in this season — anger, pride, fear, or anything else lying beneath.
- Name the “ropes” that have you bound and ask to be set free, trusting Him to rescue you — whether from, through, or by the fire.
- Thank Jesus for being present with you in every fire, and ask for a faith that trusts His heart even when the outcome isn’t what you hoped.