This is part three of a three-part (Part 1 and Part 2) blog series on approaching Sunday mornings.

So you’ve gathered together on a Sunday.  You’ve engaged in fellowship, serving, worship, and the Scriptures.  You’ve been encouraged and taught from the Word, and now you’re headed out the door.  Now what?

In the course of a Sunday morning service, a lot has been talked about.  Even if there is one overall theme to the morning, there has been a variety of Scriptures read, songs sung, persons speaking, etc.  In a world that is prone to distraction, one question I’ve been asking myself lately in leaving a Sunday morning, is ‘What is one thing?’  Not saying that I don’t have the capability to know and apply multiple things in one week, but I also know the power of focusing on just one thing for the week ahead and the next 6 days.

What is the one thing I’m walking away with?  One verse to meditate, one truth to know better, one sin I need to repent of, one aspect of God’s character I need to dwell on, one question I need to wrestle with?  In general, I believe we each need to be walking away with one thing.  And it would be wise and helpful to you and me, if we wrote that one thing down before we got up from our seat.

With that in mind, here are four encouragements on what to do with that one thing:

Talk about it

Are you driving home with someone else in the car?  If so, talk about the one thing you’re walking away with.  Are you in a community group?  Engage in dialogue with a group member that week, either at group or outside of the group meeting.  Are you a parent with a student who was in the service as well?  If so, engage them in conversation on the way home or over lunch.  Don’t suddenly stop talking about matters of faith when you walk out of the building.  If so, you give the impression that faith is something we live out at ‘that building’, but not in daily life.  Deuteronomy 6:5-9 calls us to talk about faith in daily life with the next generation.

Pray about it

Yes, talk about it horizontally with those around you, but also talk about it with your Father in Heaven in prayer.  Is there a truth that leads you to a greater love for or worship of our God?  Tell Him in prayer.  Is there sin and an area of your heart and life, the Spirit exposed in you?  Confess it in prayer.  Is there something from the morning that leads your heart to thanksgiving and gratitude?  Thank Him in prayer.  Is there something you’re asking Him to do in your life or in the lives of others?  Ask Him in prayer.  Write out a prayer for the week on a note card, and keep it in front of you.  Allow the Scripture, looked at that morning, to help form that prayer.  Confess your dependency upon Him in prayer during the week.

Read about it

Go back and read the Scriptures that were shared during the Sunday morning.  Our minds and hearts can be prone to forget what the Lord has spoken to and shown us in His Word.  So read the Word again that week, and allow the Spirit of God to continue to grow you in Christlikeness through its truth (John 17:17).  Memorize a key verse from the passage, allowing the Word to dwell on your heart and mind.  Write that verse on note card and keep it in front of you.  Don’t wait until next Sunday to read and reflect on God’s Word.

Act on it

James 1:22 calls us to be doers of the word, not hearers only.  Our faith in Christ is not just about gaining knowledge, but it is allowing that knowledge to then lead to a changed life that lives for the Lord (Colossians 1:9-14).  So what conversation needs to take place?  Who do you need to talk to?  What habit needs to be started or stopped?  What step of obedience needs to be taken and not delayed any longer?  What needs to be put off, and what needs to be put on (Colossians 3:1-17)?  What needs to get scheduled this week, or removed from the calendar?  As the Spirit of God calls us to change, may we be people of faith-filled action.