True to Real - The Chapel Message Podcast

Stop Pretending You’re Okay | Anxiety | Part 2

The first step to freedom from anxiety is telling the truth about how we are really doing. It sounds simple, but oftentimes it is easier to pretend everything is ok than to face the emotional, relational, or spiritual risks that come with telling the truth. When we emotionally connect with ourselves, it can feel overwhelming. In 2 Corinthians 12:9, the Lord says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” This is the upside-down nature of the kingdom. When we are weak and live in the reality of our weakness, we become strong because it creates space for God. Authentically and regularly sharing all our fears, worries, and concerns with God is the number one thing we can do to break the hold of anxiety in our lives. We can’t fake it till we make it, and God isn’t asking us to. He asks us to bring him all that is weighing us down and say, “I’m not ok. I need you.”

Know That God is Greater Than Anything You Face | Anxiety | Part 1

If you struggle with anxiety, you are not alone. 1 in 3 Americans experience significant anxiety at some point in their lives. While fear is our body’s response to a real threat, anxiety is worrying about the potential for something terrible to happen. Anxiety causes us to live as though these types of worst-case scenarios are a reality. There are many ways we respond to anxiety. We can try to find control in other areas of our lives, attempt to escape through tv, drinking, overworking, etc., become overwhelmed, or close ourselves off emotionally to avoid our fears. The Bible offers a radically different approach to handling our anxiety. In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus invites us to connect with him; when we do, he promises rest. Rest can also be described as peace or shalom. Shalom is an all-encompassing peace, wholeness, abundance, and harmony. We weren’t built for anxiety and fear. God designed us for shalom. You have an enemy that wants to make you a slave to anxiety, but God wants you to know there is nothing he can’t fix. Nothing he can’t free. If you are weary, he is rest. If you are anxious, he is peace.

Easter Sunday 2023

In John 4:1-42, Jesus encounters a woman at the well in the middle of the day. As they talk, Jesus brings to the surface the parts of her life that she would rather keep hidden; she’s been married five times and is living with someone who isn’t her husband. Relational brokenness has weaved itself into her identity. Jesus isn't bringing up her past to harm her – but rather to heal her. She was an outcast among outcasts, and Jesus came to her. When she had given up hope, he offered her a new life. She came alive to God at that moment and returned to her village, sharing everything that happened to her, and her village also came alive to God. The good news of Easter is that the same Jesus who saw and loved this woman in the middle of her mess is alive now and pursuing you. He is not a philosophy, tradition, or symbol of love and goodness. Jesus is a person who lived and died. But death couldn’t hold him; he is living now. He is still speaking. Still acting. Still leading. He still offers us the same thing he offered the woman at the well; a transformed life. 

 

Bitterness | Temptations - The Story of Joseph | Part 4

There is a famine in the Promise Land, so Jacob sends his sons to Egypt, hoping to buy grain. When they arrive, the brothers bow before Joseph and beg him for food. Joseph recognizes them and remembers his dream from 22 years prior. Joseph has every right to be angry, vengeful, and bitter at that moment – but he’s not.

Joseph recognized that God was with him. He didn’t get stuck asking why things happened the way they did or why God didn’t rescue him sooner. The truth is, the answers to these questions won’t bring peace; only the presence of God can satisfy us. 

Joseph confronted the pain of his past and allowed himself to grieve. Joseph was a strong and powerful man who gave himself over to grief. Tears are an essential part of healing. We can be tempted to run past or sit in pain, but the Holy Spirit invites us to walk through it and experience healing with him. 

Joseph pursued generosity that brought about revival. Joseph could forgive his brothers and bless them because he allowed himself to grieve the pain of his past and knew God was with him. Forgiveness doesn’t happen in the pit; forgiveness is an outpouring of your healing. We don’t forgive to be better. We forgive because we are better. We don’t forgive to be restored. We forgive because we are restored.

Success & Distress | Temptations - The Story of Joseph | Part 3

In Genesis 40 & 41, Joseph has been falsely accused of adultery and is in prison. Although God’s presence is with him, there is nothing he can do to change his circumstances. After two years in prison, Joseph is asked to interpret a dream for Pharaoh and, in doing so, he is taken out of prison and brought to the palace. Soon he becomes the most powerful man in the world. Joseph experienced both distress and success. On the surface, they can look very different, but the temptation in both is the same – to focus on our circumstances over God. When we live a circumstances-directed life, we seek to avoid distress and increase success. When we find ourselves in difficult circumstances, it feels like God isn’t working, and when we experience success, we can judge God’s right to have expectations on our life. A God-directed life recognizes that God will use distress and success to build character. He cares about who we are and who we are becoming. He wants us to grow to be more like him. As we shift our focus from our circumstances to God himself, we realize the presence of God is the most important thing in our lives.

Sexual Temptation | Temptations - The Story of Joseph | Part 2

Genesis 39 tells the story of Joseph being tempted to compromise his sexual integrity with Potiphar's wife. Shame and fear are often used as motivators to guide us toward a life of sexual purity. We are told to fear the consequences of disobedience or risk being seen as shameful. The problem with this way of thinking is that fear and shame are tools of the enemy. They may bring about behavior modification for a time, but when the fear and shame wear off, so does the desire for purity. God is not looking to scare us into choosing purity. Instead, he invites us into a new way of living where our motivation for purity is centered on the deep love that God has for each of us. When we realize nothing can separate us from his love, we will stop settling for less than his best for us. We are all sinners, saved by grace. When we sin, we go against who God has called us to be and our identity in Christ. The more we fill up on the love of God, the less likely we will be to settle for less than his goodness in our lives.

Pride | Temptations - The Story of Joseph | Part 1

Temptations are anything that lead us away from God or the life he has for us. It’s been said that pride is the root of all other sins because it changes our orientation away from God. Pride believes that we are superior to and more important than others. It is rooted in self-centeredness and causes us to want to control other people. The lie behind pride is that life is a competition, and we don’t have value or worth till we distinguish ourselves. Pride can also show up in feeling insecure and inferior to others. The truth is our value and self-worth are not obtained through competition or distinguishing ourselves. You are valuable because you are the son or daughter of the king of the universe, and you are made in his image. He is willing to sacrifice anything and everything for you. There is nothing you can do to make him love you more or anything you can do to take away his love. When we understand and live in our identity in Christ, pride loses its power over us. God wants to invite you into a whole new way of living. One where you lay down pride and choose humility instead.

The Way of Self-Denial | The Way of Jesus - Part 5

In Mark 14, Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane, deeply distressed and overwhelmed with sorrow. He knows the unspeakable horror awaiting him, and he’s not hiding that he would prefer another way to save humanity. Jesus doesn’t pray once; he comes before God three times, begging him for a different plan. But there’s no other way. After pouring his heart out, something shifts, and he is filled with resolve and courage as he goes to the disciples saying, “Rise! Let us go!” 

The world says that in order to have your best life, you need to “follow your heart.” When you go after what you want and achieve everything you desire, you will find happiness and fulfillment. Jesus offers a different perspective. He shows us that in surrendering control, we are able to experience the fullness of God's plan for our lives. Most of us would say we want God’s best for us, but we also don’t want to give up control. We fear that God’s plans for our lives won’t be the same as our plans. And the truth is, they won’t. It’s in this very tension that God loves to work. When we acknowledge that we want to control but still choose to surrender to God, these moments become catalysts that open the floodgates of God‘s kingdom in our lives. Come before God and invite him to be King of your time, marriage, career, heart, sexuality, and finances. In doing so, you will experience true peace, joy, and fulfillment in your life. 

The Way of Freedom | The Way of Jesus - Part 4

In Luke 8:26–39, Jesus encounters a demon-possessed man. Jesus called the demon out of the man, and his life was transformed as he experienced freedom. What would it look like for you to be free? Free from sin, the brokenness you experience in your humanity, and the evil forces in the spiritual realms. When you become enslaved to something that’s not of God, it can get ugly very fast. You can feel incapable of living any other way, see the things that enslave you as part of your identity, and believe the lies that God does not want you. But no matter how ugly it’s gotten, none of us are so far gone that Jesus can’t bring us back. The moment the demons saw Jesus, they fell to the ground and asked Jesus to stop tormenting them. Jesus’ presence made all the difference in this man’s life, and it makes all the difference in our lives as well! The presence of God breaks bondage, binds up our brokenness, and drives the darkness away. No matter what bondage you are experiencing in your life, the presence of God is the path to freedom.

The Way of Justice | The Way of Jesus - Part 3

In week three of our series, The Way of Jesus, Freddy preached about Biblical justice. Oftentimes when thinking of justice, we say things like, “justice was served.” In other words, someone got what they deserved. But this isn’t the type of justice we read about in scripture. Biblical justice is focused on restoring all things back to the beauty of their original design in God’s kingdom. Jesus cares deeply about justice. He declared in Luke 4:18 that he came “to proclaim good news to the poor… freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free.” Most of his ministry focused on serving those overlooked and set aside in society. This is the ministry he passes on to us who follow him. Micah 6:8 gives us a recipe for justice: act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly. If we seek justice without mercy and humility, we are missing the heart of God for what justice looks like. The justice God desires to bring out in our world is rooted in love, not self-seeking. Therefore we can’t act justly without first loving mercy. When we have experienced God’s mercy, we are forever changed. His mercy gives us a new lens to see the world through, one that knows we are saved by grace and not our own works. Mercy is rooted in humility. Justice is about not looking to your own interests but looking to the interests of others (Philippians 2:3-4). This type of humility is found in depending on Jesus, not our own strength. When we put these three things together, justice, mercy, and humility, we can pursue justice the way Jesus did.