Empowered To Pour Ourselves Out In Service | Poured Out | Week 4

Empowered To Pour Ourselves Out In Service | Poured Out | Week 4

Our human condition gives us the tendency to live our lives according to what’s best for ourselves.  When we become Christians, the Holy Spirit turns us outward and empowers us to live lives marked by loving service to one another. Spirit-empowered service is the natural overflow of a life increasingly surrendered to the Spirit, who is himself always moving outward, always giving, always other-centered, and who is forming that same character within us. The Holy Spirit gives us spiritual gifts to serve our church community and these gifts are meant to benefit others, not ourselves. Our role as Christians is to choose to serve others with the gifts that the Spirit has given to us for the sake of the common good.  When this happens, the entire church community is loved and cared for Discussion Questions:  1. What are your spiritual gifts?  If you are not sure what they are, we encourage you to take the spiritual gifts assessment on the Ediphy app. 2. Are you using your gifts to serve others?  If yes, share.  If no, what is holding you back? 3. Share how you have blessed others through serving. 4. Share how God has blessed you as you served others. 5. What have you learned about yourself by serving others?

Filled To Be Poured Out | Poured Out | Week 3

In a world that never stops pressing, most of us quietly wonder if we're spiritual enough — and many of us have already decided we're not. In this message, Pastor Shea explores what it actually means to be filled with the Spirit in the ordinary, depleted, demanding seasons of real life. Drawing from Ephesians 5 and Acts 4, he reframes Spirit-filled living not as a mountain top moment to achieve but as a source to keep returning to — like a sponge that is always releasing and always going back to the water. The early church didn't pray in Acts 4 because it was a special occasion; prayer and bold action were their daily rhythm. And when fear stands between us and our assignment, the answer isn't a guaranteed outcome — it's being so saturated in who God is that the impulse to love becomes louder than the fear. Whatever your season, whatever your assignment, the one non-negotiable stays the same: you were never meant to run on yesterday's filling. Discussion Questions:  1. 1. Where are you currently getting your strength from? What are the substitutes — obvious or subtle — that you reach for before you reach for God? 2. What does Spirit-filled life look like in your current season? How is it different from a previous season, and does that difference feel like growth or failure? 3. What fear is keeping you from taking one step further than you're comfortable with? What would it look like to show up in your assignment this week with the love louder than the fear?

Who Is My Neighbor | Poured Out | Week 2

In this message from our Poured Out series, we dig into Galatians 5 to wrestle with one of the most honest questions the Christian life raises: how do you actually love people who are genuinely hard to love? Pastor Ryan walks through Paul's letter to a church that was biting and devouring each other — and shows why the answer isn't more effort, more guilt, or more rules. The breakthrough comes from understanding what freedom is actually for, what the flesh actually is, and why the Holy Spirit doesn't ask you to manufacture love you don't have — He pours in what you're missing. If you've ever felt like you're running on empty when it comes to loving a difficult person, this message is for you. Discussion Questions:  1. Who is someone in your life — past or present — that you'd describe as genuinely hard to love? Without naming them, what is it about them that makes loving them feel costly? 2. Paul says the "works of the flesh" — hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage — are the natural output of self-directed living. Where do you most recognize that pattern showing up in your own relationships right now? 3. The sermon drew a contrast between works (human striving) and fruit (divine growing). Be honest: in your most difficult relationship, are you mostly trying to manufacture love through willpower, or are you actually staying connected to the One who grows it? What does that difference look like practically for you? 4. Which of the three applications feels hardest for you personally — naming the person and praying specifically for them, following the Spirit's nudges even when it's inconvenient, or asking to be filled daily? What is it about that one that creates the most resistance in you?

Pentecost Sunday | Poured Out | Week 1

Poured Out: The Holy Spirit is our “Down Payment” of the Future The Holy Spirit was poured out, so that we can pour ourselves out in love and service to others. On this Pentecost Sunday, we explore and celebrate how the Spirit is our “down payment” of our future inheritance (Ephesians 1:13 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxEpuh3Xg-w&t=73s]-14), given to us now so that we can live like God intends us to live. Discussion Questions:  1. Can you think of an example of something you have “marked” with your own name to make sure people know it belongs to you? (Like writing your name inside your book or on the tag of a family jacket.) Has your ownership of that item ever been an important issue? 2. Have you ever thought of yourself as being “marked” as belonging to God because of the Holy Spirit living within you? How does that change your perspective? 3. When you think about your ultimate future — what Ephesians 1:14 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxEpuh3Xg-w&t=74s] calls “our inheritance,” what do you think of? What are you looking forward to? 4. Read Romans 8:10 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxEpuh3Xg-w&t=490s]-11. If the sentence in your translation sounds confusing, try the New Living Translation. How does the promise of verse 11 make you feel? Does it give you hope? Is it hard to believe? 5. Do you feel like the Holy Spirit is active in your life? Why or why not? If not, what might your next step be?

Wisdom at the Crossroads | Special Guest: Pastor Wayne Cordeiro

Every one of us will face crossroads — moments where we need more than information; we need wisdom. The good news? You don't have to chase wisdom down. She's already calling out to you. In this message, Pastor Wayne unpacks how to grow from knowing right and wrong into walking in the power of God, why obedience (not just agreement) is what unlocks the blessing, and how the friends waiting for you in Scripture can save your marriage, your ministry, and your life.