Sycamore Sermons: Recent Episodes
Sycamore
Sycamore started as a college ministry in 2008 after the Youth Pastor at Montavilla Baptist Church asked us "what would church look like if you could drop all the baggage?" The question sparked a process of discovery for the college group of the time. Sycamore is the church that was birthed out of that time. Since then we have faithfully met on Saturday nights continuing to seek God's face.
Sycamore aims, like its namesake the tree, to be a platform for seeing Christ. Just like Zacchaeus climbed up a sycamore tree to see Jesus through a crowd, we hope that Sycamore may help you see a clearer picture of Christ. We normally meet every Saturday evening. For updates on our upcoming meetings, check out our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/mbc.sycamore
Based out of 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, Randy Steele speaks about the contrast between '"expectations" and "desires" and its affect on love.
Come and join us this week as we seek to put our faith into action. Tonight will a similar setup to the last two weeks: Praying for and listening to God's call of obedience. We will be seeking to build on the faith and obedience that we initiated last week, and we will be seeking to follow God even further down the path of His will.
Come and join us this week as we seek to put our faith into action. Tonight will a similar setup to last week: Praying for and listening to God's call of obedience. We will be seeking to build on the faith and obedience that we initiated last week, and we will be seeking to follow God even further down the path of His will.
Come and join us this week as we seek to put our faith into action. Tonight will look a bit different. We will meet together in a circle to listen to God, but there is only one guideline for this evening: if you feel called by God to obey, then this is the time to commit that obedience. It is okay for there to be long pauses. It is okay for there to be mistakes. It is okay to walk out of the room if God wants you elsewhere. This is simply a time for listening and obedience.
Join us this week as we share our stories about opportunities that God gave us this week. Randy will be continuing to talk about Gideon, specifically how important it is to have friends to give you courage.
Tonight, we will be sharing stories of opportunities that God gave us to share the gospel this week. Randy will also continue to talk to us about the story of Gideon, and how God defeated the Midianites using Gideon's obedience in small, but powerful ways.
Tonight, Jeff will continue the series on Gideon and conquering fear. Jeff will talk about asking God for signs, as well as trusting and obeying God. We will also be telling stories about opportunities that God has opened this last week.
Tonight Randy will be continuing to talk about Gideon facing his fears, but being afraid of what it might mean. We will also tell our stories of looking for opportunities to follow God this last week.
Tonight, Randy will be talking to us about how fear steals from us, and how we as Christians need to stop that. We will be sharing about our stories that Randy asked us to bring from last week.
Tonight, Terry Steele will be talking to us about trying to control fear by using 'magic'. We will deal with concepts such as mechanism vs. organic, and how they relate to Christians.
Tonight, Randy will be talking to us about the effects of fear and the importance of getting rid of it. We will be interacting with each other and talking about our own fears in addition to the message.
Tonight we are talking about how to support leadership and how to heal hurting pastors. Randy will be sharing with us from 2 Timothy 4:9-21 about the apostle Paul and his hurts and wants. We will also be discussing some sensitive issues during the second half of tonight, and as such, we will not be recording them.
Tonight Randy Steele will be talking to us about the different stages of life and how it pertains to us as individuals. We will also be dialoguing about how stages of life pertain to Sycamore, and what Saturday evenings will look like in the future.
Steven Koch and Kelly Murray will be sharing with us tonight about the importance of our personal relationships with God and obeying Him. Kelly will be sharing part of her life story and seeking to have a conversation about God and obedience.
This week, we will be continuing our series on Practical Prayer. Randy will be speaking about Wasted Prayers. Pride wars against effective prayer but the question is: how can I understand humility?
George Hamilton is speaking this week from his experience with healing prayer. He will be sharing his Biblical and experiential knowledge of the subject, as well as helping us with some practical advice.
Tonight we take some time to practice praying and listening to God with each other. Jon Johnson and Matthew Price help facilitate out listening prayer through the evening, with lots of time to talk about what we are hearing from God as well. Included are some focused worship songs and times of silence.
Dan Mayhew is speaking on the violent nature of prayer this week. He shares his view of the Kingdom of God and how we should use prayer to forcefully advance it, as well as many other facets of prayer and warfare.
This week, Calvin and Julie Tadema speak to us on the topic of intercessory prayer, and have us practice it with some guidance and feedback time.
This week, Mike and Debbie Kelly speak about. using Listening Prayer to minister to each other. Mike and Debbie will be ministering to us, and we will be practicing the practical application of listening prayer with each other.
We have another guest speaker with us this evening, Dave Cetti, who comes tonight to continue our discussion on prayer.
Ellen Koch speaks tonight in a group setting, about her experience and testimony of Listening Prayer. This week, we have some time to experience and practice listening prayer.
Editor's Note: Sorry for the lack of podcasts recently, there were a lot of hiccups in the previous recordings that prevented usable audio.
This week, guest speaker Greg "Mac" McAllum comes to share some of his Testimony and to continue our series on Fear Vs.. Befriending Fear's Enemies.
This week, Randy continues his mini series on the book of Philemon. He discusses how to handle conflict, and gives some ground principles for what to do. At the end, for Push Time, he lays out some example conflicts that we discussed.
This week, Randy continues his discussion on Philemon. Starting off with a discussion about how a name was chosen, and how a name can hold power over someone, he discusses Onisimus, and Paul's request that Philemon treat him with love and restore him rather than give out the punishment that by right Philemon could have and deserved to give.
This week, we continue our mini series of standalone nights, as Randy talks to us about how to wait on the Lord, and how to remember that our faith is based on what Christ has done for us, and not on what we can do for Him.
This week Randy Steele comes to us while we are in between series, and talks to us about giving thanks, and about the way a person's heart will be if they are truly giving thanks. "It is not possible to be simultaneously proud and thankful..."
This week, we are proud to be able to be a part of Daniel Hedinger and Nicole DeKay's wedding. We bring you the recording of the main event, and hope that those who were not able to attend enjoy hearing the joyous union.
This week, Randy comes to us to discuss spiritual warfare, and and to remind us of the heart of Christianity.
This week, Cal and Julie Tadema speak on the topic of healing, in every realm, whether it be emotional, spiritual, or physical. They discuss the will of the devil being the cause of pain, what an ideal state of "health" should be, and some symptoms that will cause pain in the future.
`This week, Jeff Steward comes to us on the topic of healing (again!). However, he comes with a different perspective than Dwight Steele. He comes with words from a couple of authors who are more charismatic, and have a different view on healing that previously presented. While he may speak with some conviction on the subject, it should be clear in the question and answer time that we have not fully wrestled with this topic, and we will continue later with more on the subject.
Jeff brings us a description of what is happening and what these two authors have to say (and practice) regarding healing.
This week, Randy Steele comes to us with a unique evening where he opens with some words on handling money, and how that can be a risk and a temptation. He also, not of his own desire, but because Sycamore leadership requested, went over the line items of the new church budget which has been designed with a different heart. He goes out of his way to remind us that he is trying not to be "traditional" and request more money or anything. But the leadership at Sycamore wanted to hear a little bit of the heart behind the budget and how our parent church decides to spend its money.
Tonight, Dwight Steele speaks to us on healing. Randy Steele was going to speak but as it happens he felt really nervous, and was unsure what to do. Dwight Steele, instead, comes to us tonight with some of his insights. He reminds us that the purpose of healing is to demonstrate the glory and love of God. He reminds us that sometimes God will use suffering and that in our "raitional", "idividualistic" and "fatalistic" Church culture we often do not have a proper understanding. He reminds us that we have no business telling God what he can or must do. But God is willing and wants to work through us. He also reminds us that he would aim for transformation rather than simply physical healing as that is more glorifying that God can change the heart of sinful man.
Tonight, Elijah Sou comes to us to talk about prophecy. He begins with a discussion on how we misinterpret what prophecy is, and what it is for. He starts from 1st Corinthians 12, and reminds us that prophecy is about revelation in two ways. foretelling, or the revealing of the future, and forthtelling which is the revelation of something that is present. He reminds us that Prophecy is for us to edify the Church. It is not some magic trick where we can see the future for our benefit. Prophecy is about calling people up, and about edifying the body of Christ. He gives us some real examples in his life, of how the Holy Spirit has been able to speak to him. He talks a little bit about how to determine false prophecy from divine prophecy by explaining what real prophecy is like, and the heart of real prophecy. "The sprit of the prophet is subject to the prophet"
This evening Andreea speaks on the gift of tongues, and what role it plays in the believer's life.
This evening Mark Gaulke speaks on his heart for Floyd Light middle school. They are hoping that people will join them in the Big Brother Big Sister program to help encourage the students and help them to thrive in relationship.
This week Dwight Steele comes and talks to us about the Holy Spirit's anointing power. He talks to us about how there are two different "fillings" of the Spirit. He takes examples from the book of Acts, and shares some insight into how the Holy Spirit wants to empower us for boldness and truth.
This evening Randy speaks on the significance of the power of God and the transformation that it brings to people's lives. We look at the early church and see how they did not rely on persuasive arguments, but on the authority and power of Christ to reach people's hearts.
Anna Price talks this week about the greatness of having a relationship with God. She uses the examples of Moses and Elijah to explain how God wants to talk to His people as friends.
Special guest speakers Cal and Julie Tadema join us this week to explain the various ways we can hear what God is trying to tell us.
This week at Sycamore we discussed the time each of us had set aside to experience the Lord. Randy Steele and Anna Price talk us through hearing God's voice and what it would look like if we spent everyday walking with God.
Annie comes tonight to share her recent experiences and pray a prayer of blessing over Sycamore.. She shares her encounters with the Holy Spirit and encourages us with her testimony of what God is doing.
This week Jeff Steward continues our series, The God Connection: Reexamining the role of the Holy Spirit in every day life.
Jeff shares his testimony of God working in him to bring about his desire to see God more clearly. He shares a lot about how and why that journey started. He answers the question from Randy, "What prevented you from stopping during this process? Why do you still seek to see God's power revealed?"
Randy Steele sets off a new series from Sycamore with the beginning of the book of the Acts of the Apostles. Randy describes how the Church is now, and then begins to take a look at what the Church was like in the beginning. He paints a picture of desire for something more. Something more meaningful, more fulfilling. Something worth giving up everything else for. He reminds us of the calling of Christianity and how we have so often forgotten what God has promised us.
The leadership doesn't have a full title for this series yet, and we don't know where it will take us. Our goal is to simply ask questions and look to God for answers.
This evening Ty speaks from Psalm 131, about the struggle between the old man and the new creation. The old man wants to be big and strong, but the new is called to humility and submission to the Father. We are to rest in God and put our hope in Him, not in our own strength.
Randy Steele continues this mini series on rest with a look at taking a Sabbath. He focuses on a psalm of David, where the king describes himself as coming into gods presence without want, simply taking time to be with God. He speaks about why this is important and what it allows us to remember. That without us everything won't fall apart. We are not so important that we can never rest.
This week Randy Steele reminds us of the awesome power of God. He does not need rest. He does not need sleep. He does not need US. He created us with the need to rest, slow down, as a reminder that he is the ultimate one in control. We are not the ones who he can't live without. Randy reminds us that we too often spend our lives going, running, always pushing for the next moment. We stare at screens and cannot go to sleep, we leave ourselves restless waiting for the dawn. He reminds us that we ought to go to bed remembering that God is our Deliverer. He knows what tomorrow will bring, and we can rest in his grace.
This week Josh speaks on the subject of believing in God's promises. When we choose not to believe in what God has promised us, there are consequences. What promises has God offered to you, and how can you live as a recipient of those promises?
Randy Steele speaks tonight about the real story of Christmas. That is, he does away with the image and the charm that we are used to and tells us the story as it is really described. He portrays the message of Christmas by reminding us of the humility of Christ's origin.
To wrap up our series on families, Randy speaks on the subject of blessings and legacy. We look at how Joseph blessed his children and what direction he pointed their lives. In response to this, what blessings have you received, and what blessings would you like to pass on to your family?
This week Anna walks us through the story of Joseph after he is released from prison, specifically looking at how he interacts with his family. Instead of revealing himself right away, Joseph creates opportunity for his brothers to wrestle with their guilt, and can ultimately be brought to a place of redemption.
This week Dave talks about what it means to forgive someone who has hurt you, and the spiritual significance it can have. Announcements can be found at the end of the talk, around 1 hour in.
Randy Steele speaks tonight on an interesting topic. What do you do when God has given you much? How to you handle blessings? What can go wrong?
Tonight Randy asks the question, where do you get your truth from? In our lives, we glean much 'truth' about ourselves from the people around us and the circumstances we are in. When we believe lies they trap us and cause pain and harm our relationship with God and with others. What are some of the things you are being told in your life that are actually lies?
The announcements are located at the end of the recording.
This week Randy speaks on the subject of why conflicts can arise in the home, and some methods that people can use to deal with them.
If you would like to listen to the announcements, they are at the end of the recording, starting at 48:45.
This evening Jeff speaks on the idea of the dreams that God has given to us. Joseph had dreams from God that his family tried to discourage, that he could have been distracted from by his circumstances. However, he chose to have faith that God would bring those dreams to fulfillment, even after years of hardship. What dreams has God given to you?
This week we examine the effects that roles can play in our family. How we view others and ourselves, and the way we interact, determines our roles and affects all our other relationships. Roles can be healthy or detrimental, and it is important to be able to identify them in life so that they can be addressed if needed.
Randy speaks tonight with an introduction into our new series "My Childhood (and Other Things That Tried to Kill Me). He reminds us that often times the church focuses on knowledge and talking about God rather than experiencing God. He uses chocolate as a metaphor for how we should look at God. He reminds us of Psalm 34:8, "Taste and see that the Lord is good;"
Jon Johnson speaks tonight on his experience of God's plan for his life. He reminds us of the importance of relying on the character of God in all things. Especially that we should focus on God's character and not only his works and gifts. Jon encourages us with a testimony of God's plan for his life and how even though he didn't understand the plan at every moment it has brought him to where he needs to be now.
Editors Note: I apologize for the question and answer time, as it may be difficult to hear due to low volume from the audience. I also kept the music and singing, as I appreciated what Jon had to say about his choice of songs and wanted to leave that in as well.
Morgan Busby speaks this evening about hearing the spirit, and how it is important to guard our lives around the Spirit. He tells us of personal experiences where the Spirit of God guided him in his life, and reminds us that we need to focus time on listening to God's voice.
This week Fred shared with us some of his journey, and how he has found it important to listen, wait, and trust God. We then took some time to put this into practice in our own lives and share with others how God spoke to us this evening.
This week Elijah speaks on the issue of trust, and how our trust in God is not based on anything we do, but on God's perfect, never wavering character. In order to trust God, we must know Him, and be able to identify his character, and then choose to put our trust in Him.
This evening Nicole speaks on the importance of being the person the Spirit has called you to be, and how that has played out in her life by practicing boldness and compassion.
This evening Jake speaks on the idea of the legacy that God has for us. What does it mean that we will inherit the kingdom? In light of this, what are we to do?
Dan talks about how he has been impacted by seeking what it is that God has called him to, and how answering that question helps give direction and meaning to our lives.
This week Anna talks about what it means to bear the image of Christ. When we are not wholly ourselves, we hide an aspect of Christ from others, and the body as a whole does not accurately represent His character.
This week Andy asks the question "what is in your hand?" That is, what do you have in your life right now that you can give to God, that He can use to advance His kingdom?
Andrew Price shares about how we need to live in the understanding that God is not distant, but near and present in our lives, and how truly operating in this belief can impact our lives.
This evening Dan leads in a discussion on the scientific community, taking a deeper look at some of the assumptions that are present, what they are, and what they reflect. Tying in with the theme of being incarnational, we also examine how they can be responded to in a Christ-like manner.
Continuing the series, Jeff speaks on the subject of having humility before God in all situations. What does it mean to humble ourselves, and how does God view humility? Finally, what significance does this have on our interactions with God and with others?
Tonight we take a look at the church itself and ask how we have been portraying Jesus. Is it an accurate representation, or have we missed the mark and wounded some people? Have we become so obsessed with doing church that we have abandoned love? Who have we pushed away because of this that we need to make peace with?
Tonight we take some time to listen to questions or concerns that people have. How has this series impacted you? Is there something that we should be addressing, or something that we have addressed inaccurately?
This week Terry takes some time to talk about what it means to 'break in' to a subculture in such a way that when the gospel comes up it is not immediately dismissed. There are numerous factors involved, but the main emphasis is that it takes time and dedication to show love to others.
Tonight Andrew speaks on the subject of discussing truth with other people. When different people get together, there will inevitably be differing opinions on belief and truth. However, it is important to remember that while we should hold firm to the truths that God has given us, we also need to firmly hold on to compassion for those we interact with.
This week at Sycamore, Randy talks about listening to people's hearts through our interactions with them. How can we see past the words that we hear, and really understand what motivates those words, and then respond appropriately?
This week we take some time to remember that we need to have compassion on people in our lives, because we have all come from a position of needing a savior. Just because we have found salvation does not mean that we are in any way superior to anyone else. We cannot save ourselves, and so instead of looking down on others, we should show them the love that has transformed us.
Tonight Randy takes some time to encourage us to expand the vision of our prayers. So often we pray for the "little" things, requests in our own lives. But God really wants to answer our big prayers, kingdom prayers. When we pray our big prayers, we demonstrate how big we actually see God.
Tonight Randy speaks on some of the ways that the church has made the gospel message lose its focus on Christ. Often times, many of the things we do are more focused on the one time event being important, rather than the relationship with the Father. The events need to be milestones in our relationship, a symbol of our transformed lives, rather than the main objective.
This week we start our new series "Among Us", a study in incarnational missiology. All that to say, we are exploring the significance of the fact that God can and dwelt among us on earth, and the impact that fact should have on our lives. We are called to relationship with people, to meet them where they are at, and show them how we have been transformed by personal, intimate knowledge of our savior, rather than trying to sell them Jesus.
This evening Randy talks about sex as God's gift to a married couple. This gift has been distorted and abused by society, but what is its true intent?
Tonight Nate Hawkins speaks on the concept of a godly marriage. What does it actually mean to be one flesh, and how does God view marriage?
Tonight we take a look at what it means to be created as a woman. What aspects of God do women portray, and how has this position been attacked in our society?
Tonight we take a look at what it means from a spiritual, Biblical perspective to be a man. God has given men the primary responsibility to stand firm, protect, and lead towards relationship with the creator.
In the series Blue and Pink Elephants we examine the intricacies of men and women from a spiritual perspective. To start off, Steve Price talks about God's character, since we are made in His image, and how the fullness of God is expressed in man AND woman together. So what are some of the characteristics of God that we can also see modeled in humanity?