Sermon Study Guide | Series: Glitch | Sermon: Hardware Crash
Scripture: 1 Kings 19:1-9 | Date: June 7, 2026

For this series we’ve developed a Glitch — Resource Guide and curated a list of Mental Health Professionals at menlo.church/mentalhealth

CONNECT - “A Personal Reflection”

This section is designed to help you relate personally to the theme of the sermon. It encourages you to reflect on your own life experiences and how they connect to the message.

Think about a season when something you were doing slowly became a bigger part of who you believed you were. Maybe it was work, parenting, school, leadership, success, being needed, being admired, or simply keeping everything from falling apart. What did that season reveal about where your identity was resting? And when that part of life felt threatened, what happened inside you? Share with your group

ENGAGE - “Exploring the Scripture”

This section invites you to dive into the biblical passage, discuss its meaning, and apply it to your life through thoughtful questions.

Read 1 Kings 19:1-9 as a group and discuss:

• Elijah goes from calling down fire on Mount Carmel to asking God to take his life under a broom tree. What stands out to you about how quickly that crash happens?
  
  
• Where do you see the difference between Elijah’s calling as a prophet and Elijah’s identity as a person loved and sustained by God?
  
  
• “Every misplaced identity eventually meets an expiration date.” What are some common identities people build in the Bay Area that feel secure until they suddenly are not?
  
  
• God’s first response to Elijah is not a sermon, strategy, or correction. It is sleep, bread, water, and presence. What does that tell us about the way God meets people who are depleted?
  
  
• Of the three identities named in the message—image bearer of God from Genesis 1:26-27, child of God from John 1:12, and citizen of heaven from Philippians 3:20—which one do you most often forget? Why?
  
  
• “In Christ, you can risk anything. In ______, you can risk nothing.” What would you put in the blank right now: your inbox, performance review, family, reputation, body, finances, kids, ministry, something else?
  
  
• How does receiving your identity in Christ make you more free to work, lead, parent, risk, and love without needing those things to define you?

APPLY - “Putting the Scriptures into Action”

This section challenges us to take what we’ve learned and implement it in practical ways in our daily lives.

• Name one misplaced identity that has been carrying too much weight in your life. Share it with one trusted person this week, not to fix it immediately, but to begin loosening its grip.
  
  
• Choose one act of “varied life” this week that has no productivity value: a walk with no destination, a meal with phones away, a nap, time with a child or friend with no agenda, or quiet time without a screen.
  
  
• Practice the breath prayer from the resources this week: breathe in, “I am made in Your image.” Breathe out, “I am loved as Your child.”
  
  
• Before checking your inbox or entering a high-pressure moment, pause and say: “In Christ, I can risk anything. In this, I can risk nothing.” Then ask God which identity truth you need to remember.
  
  
• Read 1 Kings 18-19 together or on your own this week. Notice the order of Elijah’s recovery: body, silence, naming, mission, and community.
  
  
• If you feel like you are under your own broom tree and wondering whether you can keep going, tell someone today. Reach out to a trusted friend, group leader, pastor, or counselor. If you are in crisis, call or text 988. The journey being too great for you is not a moral failure.

PRAY - “Seeking God’s Guidance”

This section offers a short prayer to help us center our hearts and invite God to work in our lives through his scripture.

God, thank you that our worth is not held together by our output, our success, our responsiveness, or the approval of others.
Thank you that before we do anything, we are made in your image, and in Christ we are invited to live as your beloved children and citizens of your kingdom.
Meet us in the places where we are tired, afraid, and over-identified with things that cannot hold us.
Give us the courage to name what has been stealing our identity, the humility to receive rest as a gift, and the freedom to live from who you say we are. Amen.

If you have feedback on this guide or ideas that would help your group engage more deeply, we’d love to hear from you. 

Your insight helps us continue growing as a church that wrestles honestly and walks faithfully together. Contact msummers@menlo.church