Willow Creek Weekend Podcast

Covid is not the only pandemic. In a culture that lives at a breakneck pace during healthy seasons, tens of millions of people suffer from anxiety, depression, and more. Suicide rates are on the rise. During a global health crisis, more and more people feel a sense of fear, hopelessness, and wondering if there’s a way out of the prisons of their own minds. This series endeavors to address the all-too-real mental health issues that so many people face by using the story of Elijah to highlight real and lasting hope that God offers in spite of circumstances.

What defines your worth? We spend a lot of our lives trying to do enough to feel like we measure up, meanwhile many of us struggle to wonder if we will ever feel worthy of love, affection, or respect. This week we're going to take a look at what God has to say about our worth. Pastor Albert Tate teaches.

I Kings 19:3, “Elijah was afraid and fled for his life. He went to Beersheba, a town in Judah, and he left his servant there. Then he went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree.” Vs. 15, “Go back the same way you came and travel to the wilderness. When you arrive there, anoint Heazael to be king of Aram.” We think that there is no way out of the situation so we run from reality. We try to get as far away from reality as possible. Elijah’s reality is so distorted at this point. emphasize in this message how God meets his physical needs and then actually tells him to go back the way he came. The way back is the way out. There is a way, but it’s not easy, and a lot of the time it’s hard work. Part of the lie that is connected to this is that it will always be this way. I can’t change. My situation will not get better. I will always be depressed. I will always be sad. I will always have anxiety.

In a world experiencing crisis and rapid change, everyone is navigating new waters. Here at Willow, we are welcoming our new Senior Pastor, Dave Dummitt, and everyone is asking, "So, what's next?" This week Dave opens up in Matthew 3 and 4 to take a look at how Jesus began his public ministry and how that ought to shape the way we navigate through significant change.

It’s easy for any of us to forget what’s brought us through hard times and what will carry us into brighter ones. In Deuteronomy 8, as God’s people prepared to step into the Promised Land, Moses reminded them to look to who God had been. The one who freed them, defended them, fed them, mended them, and led them, is the one who would continue to be with them. Will we remember that our God is faithful in the wilderness and beyond?

Social distancing has quickly entered the common vernacular. But how quickly does social distancing devolve into social isolation? Some of us are further than we’ve ever been, and others of us are closer than ever. But are any of us together? How can we can lean on and learn from one another, each helping the other to stand strong?

We all left normal behind months ago, and as we look toward finding a new normal—one full of new challenges and real hope—we can feel weary with the weight of all that we’ve endured. Even when we know the power of the resurrection.... Even when we know the truth… it can be a hardship to live in the in-between, that place between where we were and where we will be. As we look at John 21, we’ll ask: How do we find what it takes to persevere?

We often wonder where strength comes from in times like these, and it can be easy to turn toward external options. But the strongest among us—and especially some of the moms we know—seem to possess a deep-down kind of strength. God longs to strengthen us in our “inner being,” gracing us with an unshakeable faith. But what is faith, exactly? Is it a wish? A belief? This Mother’s day, let’s explore a deeper understanding of what it means to have faith..

Most of the things in which we trusted are crumbling at the foundations. Perhaps the cracks had already begun to show, but this crisis has fully (and quickly) revealed just how fragile they were all along. Is there something greater in which we can trust? As the headlines shout facts that threaten to overwhelm us, is there a Truth that can stand even stronger?

When it feels like the whole world is changing, God suggests that one of the ways in which we might cope is by making some changes of our own. God invites us to have our minds changed, renewed, and transformed, reshaping our worry and anxiety into worship and gratitude.