In the sermon Made for More: “We Are Relevant and We Pray Through the Pain”, Pastor Carl Nichols draws from the story of Nehemiah to show that before God rebuilds through us, He often breaks something within us. Using Nehemiah’s journey, he outlines a progression: first, we must sit down to cry, allowing ourselves to feel the brokenness around us; then we kneel down to pray, not just interceding for others, but repenting alongside them; and finally, we stand up and act, stepping boldly into the work God calls us to do. Nehemiah didn’t just weep and pray—he took courageous steps of faith. The time between feeling a burden and moving in boldness is where God prepares us. Ultimately, the message encourages us to respond to pain not with passivity, but with prayer-fueled action, trusting God to begin a good work through our obedience.

This message highlights the unwavering faith and bold spirit of Caleb, who stood out among his peers because he followed God wholeheartedly. While others doubted and disobeyed, Caleb’s “different spirit” positioned him to inherit the promise God made—even after 45 years of waiting in the wilderness. His name, meaning “dog,” symbolizes loyalty, grit, and courage to lead without backing down. Caleb didn’t let age or fear stop him; instead, he declared strength in his old age and boldly claimed what God had promised, ready to drive out giants and take the land. The call is clear: lead with conviction, stay faithful, don’t settle in the desert—and never retire from pursuing what God has promised.

In “Giants and Grasshoppers,” Pastor Carl Nichols emphasizes that your perspective can either push you into your promise or trap you in the wilderness. Drawing from the story of the Israelite spies, he outlines four facts about faith: what you see shapes who you become; how you view yourself influences how others see you; real faith stands even when fear is popular; and your mindset can delay your destiny. The Israelites’ fear distorted their vision, identity, and obedience, ultimately costing them the promise God had prepared. While God can lead you to breakthrough, it’s only faith—not fear—that will lead you through it. Your faith must be louder than your fear, or you risk wasting your wilderness instead of walking into your promise.

This sermon, Lessons from the Wilderness: The Law, the Servant, and the Savior, explores how God’s law was never meant to save us but to reveal His holiness and expose our need for a Savior. Like a mirror, the law reflects our flaws but cannot cleanse us. Jesus, through His perfect life, fulfilled the moral, civil, and ceremonial laws, completing what the law could not by offering grace that transforms us from the inside out. Grace doesn’t abolish the moral law but internalizes and empowers it through the Spirit. Because of Christ, we are no longer slaves to sin or bound by rituals—we are sons and daughters, adopted into God’s family, with His law written on our hearts and His Spirit living within us.

In “Lessons from the Wilderness: From Sinai to Pentecost,” Pastor Carl Nichols explores four key shifts between the events at Mount Sinai and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. At Sinai, God’s power caused fear and distance, but at Pentecost, His presence brought boldness and closeness. The law given at Sinai brought death and exposed sin, while the Spirit at Pentecost brought life and the power to overcome sin. Where God once wrote His commands on stone tablets, He now writes them on human hearts, replacing external religion with internal transformation. Finally, Sinai revealed human weakness through God’s commands, but Pentecost supplied divine strength through the Holy Spirit. In essence, Sinai showed what God required—Pentecost empowered what God desired.

This sermon, Lessons From the Wilderness: The Law and the Lamb, explores God’s covenant through the lens of His standard, His heart, and His mercy. The Ten Commandments are not just a list of rules, but a mirror that reveals our need for transformation. Jesus intensifies the standard by focusing not only on our actions, but on our inner motives and desires, calling us to become new people. While in Exodus the guilty drink the bitterness of their rebellion, the Gospels reveal that Jesus—the innocent Lamb—drinks the cup of sin on our behalf, embodying God’s mercy and substitutionary love.

This sermon, Lessons from the Wilderness: Chasing Idols, explores how idolatry—past and present—can hinder us from fully trusting and walking with God into the future He’s prepared for us. The Israelites longed for Egypt, romanticizing their past bondage when faced with the discomfort of the wilderness. They built golden calves when God seemed silent, crafting counterfeit comforts in place of divine trust. These moments reveal that idols aren’t always carved images—they’re anything we cling to more than God. This message challenges us to ask: are we idolizing what God already freed us from? Are we trusting the process even when God feels distant? And are we willing to worship while we wait? God’s future promises require the abandonment of past attachments and present idols. The wilderness wasn’t just a place of wandering—it was a place of decision, where the people had to choose whom they would serve.

This series unpacks how God often leads us into a wilderness season after deliverance from bondage, emphasizing that freedom is just the starting point. In the wilderness, God reshapes our identity, breaks old mindsets tied to our past, and refines us for the purpose ahead. Though we may leave physical bondage, spiritual and emotional baggage often remains, and it’s in this refining season that God prepares us for the Promised Land by transforming our thinking and reshaping our hearts. The wilderness is not a punishment, but a necessary preparation for the destiny God has planned.

This sermon, Lessons from the Wilderness: Bitter Water, Empty Stomachs, and a Faithful God, highlights that while God leads us out of Egypt, He often guides us through the wilderness to shape our hearts. The wilderness journey is not just about leaving behind the past but about discovering who we truly are and who God truly is. At the Waters of Marah (Exodus 15:22–27), bitter water mirrored the bitterness in the hearts of the people—testing didn’t change them; it revealed them. In the wilderness of Sin (Exodus 16:1–36), their complaining exposed a deeper issue: trust in God’s provision. The grumbling showed that the Red Sea was behind them, but fear still lived inside them. Even after God’s miracles, they chose doubt over dependence. Yet at Rephidim (Exodus 17:1–7), when the people cried out in thirst and anger, God’s faithfulness shone through. He provided water from the rock, not as a reward for their faithfulness but as a revelation of His own unchanging nature. The wilderness isn’t just about survival; it’s about transformation. Through every test, God’s provision revealed His faithfulness, patience, and presence—even when His people were faithless. This wilderness journey shapes us, teaching us that God is faithful because of who He is, not because of who we are.

This sermon, Lessons from the Wilderness: When God Brings You Out, explores how God’s deliverance doesn’t immediately place us in the Promised Land but often leads us into a season of wilderness for transformation. Freedom is just the beginning—God brings us out of bondage before bringing us into purpose. Though we may be free physically, the mindset of Egypt (bondage, fear, comfort with the familiar) can still linger and must be dealt with. The wilderness is God’s refining ground, where old patterns are broken, minds are renewed, and identity is reshaped for the journey ahead.