Derailed
Jan 21 - Mar 4, 2018
We Need Friends, Not Fans
March 4, 2018 • Dr Charles Kyker
Jesus said, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled.” Are you troubled today? “Trust in God, and trust also in me.” If your heart is troubled, you are not alone. There are many troubled hearts in our world today and on the evening before Jesus was crucified, the disciples were troubled. After Jesus shared a meal with the eleven (Judas had already left the room) Jesus told them: “… I am going to prepare a place for you… so that you will always be with me where I am. And you know the way to where I am going.”
The New OCD - Obsessive Comparison Disorder
February 25, 2018 • Dr Charles Kyker
There is nothing more miserable than constantly comparing ourselves with others. It’s never ending. For some, we feel we will never measure up. There will always be somebody more good-looking, more successful, more desirable. For others, we surround ourselves with peers with whom we feel superior in order to prop up our egos. Such dysfunction can go on for years. Sadly, many of us live in a prison of illusion our entire lives. It’s time to be set free from OCD—Obsessive Comparison Disorder—and begin to claim our identity and worth in Christ.
When Busyness Steals Your Joy
February 18, 2018 • Dr Charles Kyker
Setting our lives at a pace with no room for rest and refueling is simply not sustainable. Bowing to busyness overtime is sure to derail our journey and steal our joy. The Lord wants us to be productive, but the question is, are we choosing to use our energies towards choices that align with God’s purpose? The big issue is not that we are busy over the right things, but that we are hurried to the point of neglecting ourselves and others. A hurried soul is unable to stop and spend real time with the Lord, family, friends—people He has put in our lives as gifts. God is your refuge and strength. So today ‘Be still, and know that He is God’ (Psalm 46:10).
I was Born for a Cause, Not to Drown in Debt
February 11, 2018 • Dr Charles Kyker
How do you measure one’s success in life? If we took our cues from media, most of us would adopt the mindset that wealth is measured by how much one owns. The lure of this world is strong, drawing the desirous eye to the lifestyles of the rich and famous. Our culture tells us happiness is in materialism and success is in pursuing selfish ambitions. But behind the façade of this world’s definition of wealth and success is emptiness and debt. As followers of the Lord Jesus, we don’t have to adopt that mindset. We can think differently than the culture.
Image Destroys Intimacy
February 4, 2018 • Dr Charles Kyker
Excessive worry over self-image can derail us. From all indications, David the shepherd boy was not worried about self-image. He was the eighth son of Jesse and growing up he was assigned to watch sheep out in the wilderness. Because his chore of shepherding isolated him, young David spent a great deal of time alone. We know his rank of importance in sonship was minimal in the home because when the Lord sent Samuel to Jesse’s house to anoint the new king of Israel, Jesse did not bother sending for his youngest son, David. Jesse presented all the older seven sons before the Lord’s prophet. Samuel was impressed by all of Jesse’s good-looking sons. As they arrived, Samuel took one look at Eliab and thought, ‘Surely this is the LORD’S anointed.’ But the LORD told Samuel not to judge by outer appearance.’ In the same way, all seven sons came before Samuel. Finally, when Samuel realized the LORD had not chosen any of these sons, Samuel asked if this was all of Jesse’s sons. “’There is still the youngest,” Jesse replied. “But he’s out in the fields watching the sheep and goats.’ ‘Send for him at once,’ Samuel said. ‘We will not sit down to eat until he arrives’” (see 1 Samuel 16:1-13).
Porn & Sexuality
January 28, 2018 • Dr Charles Kyker
In the beginning, God (Genesis 1:1a). That says it all. The living God created man in His very image— “let us make human beings in our image, to be like us”—and God blessed the man and woman with this commission: “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it” (see Genesis 1:26, 28a). Without question, we can know that in the beginning, sex was good and certainly from God. The man was a gift to woman, and woman a gift to man. Jesus even quotes from the book of beginnings when He is confronted by the Pharisees who were pressing Him on the issue of divorce: “Should a man be allowed to divorce his wife…?” (Matthew 19:3). “Haven’t you read the Scriptures?” Jesus replied. “They record that from the beginning ‘God made them male and female.’ And He said, ‘This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.’ Since they are no longer two but one, let no one split apart what God has joined together” (Matthew 19:4-6). But in the Garden of Eden, man sinned when he doubted God’s word. Influenced by an enemy of God through his wife, Eve, Adam fell into a trap that still entangles us today—a twisting of the truth that can derail our journey.
Anxiety & Stress
January 21, 2018 • Dr Charles Kyker
Many things can cause interruptions in life’s journey—doubts, disappointments, stress, anxiety, depression, broken relationships, choices of others. But instead of allowing our lives to get totally derailed, it is important to get back on-track as quickly as we can. What we don’t want is to totally fall away from moving forward in our faith journey by becoming indifferent and insensitive to the things of God. Derailment can be catastrophic and so forgiving others (and ourselves), learning from set-backs, and pressing forward is crucial if we are going to keep moving in a positive, purpose-filled direction.