Written by cycleguy on July 6th, 2023
Welcome back! I feel like I ought to be singing that song from “Welcome Back Kotter” by John Sebastian. After a two month hiatus, I am back to my series on Revelation. I don’t regret the side detour though. It was something I felt God was leading me to do and over the two months I had it confirmed multiple times. But I’m back to Revelation and will be starting at Chapter 6.
I’ve titled this sermon Here Come the Horses! for an obvious reason. Let me just state the obvious as you read this chapter: white, red, black, and pale. There are several different interpretations for the appearance of these horses and I plan to bring them out. I have my personal belief but that ruins it if I tell you ahead of time. 🙂
We all have expectations. Every sermon I prepare I have an expectation that a life will be touched, maybe changed or rearranged. What type of expectations do you have concerning the Christian life? Is it what you expected it to be? We all wonder about the future. Truth is: none of us knows what the future holds, but there are some expectations we can count on. I plan to probe that in this sermon as we talk about the horses and what they mean.
I hope you will join me in person or via live stream. If not, then please pray for me. Honestly, it is a struggle getting back to Revelation after the series on Anxiety and Worry and Fear and Depression. I feel like it helped some people and wonder about this series on The Lamb Wins!
Posted in Doctrine, Faith, Miscellaneous, Opinion, Prophecy, Revelation, Sermon Series/Topic | Comments Off on HereCometheHorses!
Written by cycleguy on June 29th, 2023
There is always a sense of satisfaction when a project is completed. Well…at least there is supposed to be. I think the key word is “completed.” What do you feel when you come to the end of a project (or sermon series) and you know there is more to say so that completed feeling is vague?
That is how I feel. This week is my final sermon in the series Faith Over Fear. I know there is more to say. I also know there are people who are hurting and what I have said is just “touching the hem of the garment” for them and their healing. I actually extended the series one week in order to try to answer the question: What now? I gave it the title of Be Free! because of the 4th of July weekend. But, in all honesty, I am praying for freedom for some folks from anxiety, worry, fear, and yes, even depression. But how do I conclude this series? That was my question and I decided to highlight the main thought from each Sunday and then conclude with some possible answers to “What Now?” Here is what I have come up with:
Highlight #1: Mark 4:35-42 shows us that Jesus is always on the job…even when He appears to be asleep.
Highlight #2: Jesus spoke to worry and anxiety in Matthew 6.
Highlight #3: There are three essentials you must believe- You are not crazy. You are not alone. This will end.
Highlight #4: Slaying the giant of worry requires we do two things: 1) Pray and 2) Change your perspective.
Highlight #5: Understand the battle ground is not flesh and blood, but according to Paul in Ephesians 6, the battle is where we cannot see.
SO…WHAT NOW?
From Anxiety-Knowing God’s Peace a 31 day devotional by Paul Tautges comes the answer:
#1: Remember the Certainty of God’s Promises
#2: Remember the Grace of Salvation
#3: Remember the Care of Your Heavenly Father
#4: Remember your Dependency on Prayer
I’ll spend more time on those this Sunday (obviously). 🙂 I hope you will join me in person or via live stream at 9:00 and 10:45. Go here to find out how to connect.
Posted in Anxiety, Christian living, Fear, Freedom, Sermon Series/Topic | Comments Off on BeFree!
Written by cycleguy on June 22nd, 2023
I have been preaching on anxiety, worry, fear, and depression (mention only) for the past two months. I have two sermons left in this series. This week’s sermon is titled Drive a Nail Through These Truths. If we are going to win the war over fear, anxiety and worry, there are certain truths we must believe. It is because we must believe them that I have called this sermon what I have.
There are three unshakeable truths we must believe and get a handle on.
#1: God is with you…even if you can’t feel it.
#2: God is working…even if you can’t see it.
#3: God has a plan…even if you can’t understand it.
I’ll be using the example of and words to Joshua in 1:9, 3:15, and then using the story of Jericho falling as the basis for this week’s sermon. Please feel free to join us in person or via live stream. You can find the links to the live stream at the church’s website here.
I look forward to sharing with you.
Posted in Anxiety, Christian living, Faith, Fear, Health, Sermon Series/Topic | 2 Responses »
Written by cycleguy on June 8th, 2023
TV shows are inundated with commercials hawking this-or-that (purpose of them to begin with) telling us our life will be better if we do this or take this supplement. You get the idea. “I was once where you were but since I started using (____) my life is changed.” They want to let us know that our life will improve drastically.
Don’t you wish getting control of fear and anxiety were that easy? “Here, take this magic pill or do this simple thing and all your anxiety will disappear.” While no commercial can promise a 100% success rate, neither can I claim to solve the issue of fear and anxiety with a simple formula. As I said in last week’s message, the solution to worry is not a plan, but a Person.
The 4:8 Principle (Philippians 4:8) will work well, but we still have to remember the Person behind it all. There is another verse that plays into this: “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion…and take every thought captive to obey Christ.“ The Bible reminds us that we choose what we focus on. We can focus on our problems or we can focus on Jesus who will help us deal with those problems. The key is remembering all the amazing things God has already done in our lives. Remembering what God has done for us is a massive weapon for defeating anxiety and depression.
Joshua is the poster child for this scenario. Remember what God has brought you through and remember what God has promised you. Go back to go forward. That is my sermon this Sunday. Please join us in person or via live stream at 9:00 and 10:45.
Posted in Anxiety, Christian living, Fear, Health, Sermon Series/Topic, Story | Comments Off on #GoBacktoGoForward
Written by cycleguy on June 1st, 2023
“Worry is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained.” Arthur Somers Roche (Quoted in Winning the War on Worry by Louie Giglio)
If there is one common denominator among people-believer and unbeliever alike-it is the fact that worry is so prevalent. Worry is like a barnacle that attaches itself to a boat. A barnacle is a crustacean that attaches itself to another surface (the most familiar is one that attaches itself to a boat). They need to be removed because as they build they cause a drag. Some will actually attach themselves to the inside of sea life and grow, changing its “personality,” if you will. Anxiety is like that. It attaches itself to a host (us) and causes a drag on our forward motion. As it stays, it grows, and get harder and harder to get rid of.
Worry is a giant we need to slay. That is my desire for Sunday’s message I have entitled “Bringing the Giant to its Knees.” There is no doubt we live in an “anxiety-ridden” society. Life seems to assault us from all angles. What can we do? My prayer is to answer that question this week. I look forward to seeing you in person or via live stream at 9:00 and 10:45.
Posted in Anxiety, Faith, Freedom, Health, Sermon Series/Topic | Comments Off on #GiantSlain!
Written by cycleguy on May 25th, 2023
In 1816 Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to John Adams in which he said, “There are indeed gloomy and hypochondriac minds, inhabitants of diseased bodies, disgusted with the present, and despairing of the future; always counting the worst will happen, because it may happen! To these I say how much pain have cost us the evils which have never happened!” (Quote from Unwinding Anxiety by Judson Brewer-p.12)
I’m pretty sure Thomas Jefferson had plenty to be anxious about!! 🙂
Whenever someone is going through a “down” time or depression or simply fighting their own emotions of being down, they tell themselves lies they come to believe. In his book, Attacking Anxiety, Pastor Shawn Johnson takes lessons from his own struggles with depression and anxiety and panic to gives three essentials a person must believe. I will talking about them this Sunday:
- You are not crazy
- You are not alone
- This will end.
I realize those who struggle with a chemical imbalance in their system will find some of this hard to believe. And accept. But my desire is that I can give them hope that it is not a lost cause. Primary to that is what we tell ourselves. We all need to start telling ourselves, “You are a child of God. You are a loved child of God. Like everyone else, you are a slightly broken child of God.”
Please join us this Sunday live or live stream at 9:00 and 10:45. There is hope for all of us.
Posted in Anxiety, Christian living, Compassion, Faith, Fear, Opinion, Preaching, Sermon Series/Topic | 2 Responses »
Written by cycleguy on May 18th, 2023
After a one-Sunday hiatus due to Mother’s Day, I will be back this week continuing the series I’ve entitled Faith Over Fear. This will be sermon #2 in the series and as you can see by the title of this post it is called “Who Me? Worry?” My Scripture is Matthew 6:25-34.
In Googling the “Top 10 Anxieties for 2023” the most recent statistic came from December of 2022. According to Ipsos, the top vote getter was inflation. It was followed by poverty and social inequality, crime and violence, unemployment, and financial and political corruption. Climate change tied with worry about taxes. Coronavirus is still at one of the lowest levels since it was added in April 2020. That is quite a change from the list I found from 1990: AIDS, drug abuse, nuclear waste, the ozone layer, famine, homelessness, the federal deficit, air pollution, water pollution, and garbage. Added to all lists is since 9/11 global terrorism has been one of the leading causes of anxiety.
I realize a list is just that…a list. All lives are different and our stressors and stress levels are different. But we are all human and one commonality is stress and anxiety. Different levels to be sure, but it is there nonetheless. This passage in Matthew is quite a treatise on Jesus’ ideas on worry. My hope Sunday is to enlighten us all to the truth and hope Jesus gives us when it comes to worry.
I hope to see you this Sunday at 9:00 or 10:45. If not in person then via live stream.
Posted in Anxiety, Christian living, Faith, Fear, Health, hope, Preaching, Sermon Series/Topic, Story | Comments Off on #WhoMe?Worry?
Written by cycleguy on May 11th, 2023
This Sunday, in case you were born yesterday or under a rock, is Mother’s Day. I know…it is sorta hard to miss that. Florists certainly love it! The restaurants love it as well. But, truthfully, the woman/women in your life who have meant so much or now mean a lot are worth remembering.
This Sunday I am following up on something I started last year. Rather than me stand before the church on Mother’s Day and telling the women how they can be a better or more godly mother/wife/aunt/etc, I asked some women to take part. There will be three women in the first service and four in the second sharing what woman in the Bible they admire inspires them. We will hear from Lydia. Mary the mother of Jesus. Tamar (Judah’s Tamar). Sarah. Mary of Bethany. Deborah. Hannah.
We met Wednesday night to chat, get to know each other (we have two services which can often lead to not knowing folks), talk about their lady in the Bible, and to pray.
I’m looking forward to hearing from them as they share their heart. I’d like to invite you to visit us at 9:00 and 10:45 in person or via live stream. If you are new to OVCF or the Spencer area, I would love to meet you.
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Mother’s Day ’23
Written by cycleguy on May 4th, 2023
This Sunday I start a new sermon series-one I have never done before. As you can see by the title to this post, the theme for the series is “Faith Over Fear.”
A little back story might help. I began a series in January on Revelation. After preaching for the first two months and covering Revelation 1-5, I decided to concentrate on the message of Easter so I diverted to a series I called “To and From the Cross.” While preparing for that series, I began to sense God was leading me to do something else besides continue Revelation when that series was over. After praying about what I was sensing, there was little doubt in my mind that I was to do a series on Fear and Anxiety. After I announced that, I cannot even begin to tell you how many folks have said, “I can’t wait for that series!” Many of those were people whom I had no clue suffered from it.
To say I’m looking forward to preaching it would be an understatement. But I am also aware of the expectations people have and part of me says I hope I don’t disappoint. Then I realize: it is not me anyway. And it is not about me. I have to trust God will give me the words to say because, to be honest, I have never had an issue with this. I HAVE TO TRUST HIM TO GIVE ME THE WORDS TO SAY.
My sermon this Sunday is entitled “What We ALL Want.” Stay tuned this week for more information about what it is we all want. Meanwhile, I invite you to join us at 9 and 10:45, either in person or via live stream. Go here to find out how to do that. I welcome your feedback as well.
Posted in Christian living, Compassion, Faith, Fear, Freedom, Grace, hope, Opinion, Sermon Series/Topic | Comments Off on FaithOverFear#1
Written by cycleguy on April 20th, 2023
There is something curious about boasting. Despite the fact that nobody likes a braggart, everybody brags in some way. People boast about their grandchildren (Guilty); their bank accounts (not guilty); their waistlines (is that really something to brag about?); sports feats (days gone by); travel plans (will Alaska ever happen again?); and sometimes even their indiscretions. Get a bunch of pastors together on Monday morning and ask them how things are going and you will probably hear the biggest game of one-upmanship take place that you have ever heard.
In Galatians 6:14 the Apostle Paul said, “May I never boast except in the cross of Christ.” What does that mean? I want to dive into that verse and the passage which surrounds it this coming Sunday. I invite you to join me in person or via live stream at 9:00 and 10:45.
Posted in Doctrine, Preaching, Sermon Series/Topic, The Cross | Comments Off on #TheBoastoftheCross
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