Cheyenne Hills Podcast

Following more than a year of discussions with Nathan, interviews with school board members and following the progress of the issue of subject matter in school libraries, Galen discusses the upcoming Opt-In Policy decision being decided by the school board on Dec. 4. What is this decision, how will it affect children, and how can you show up to lend your support at the school board meeting? It's all here in this month's podcast.

Keith Kautz gave a message resounding with a real-world wakeup call: step out of the crowd. Pastor Karsten and producer Kasey talk about how we can take this action in our own lives to keep from becoming luke-warm, hidden Christians.

Guest speaker Kieth Kautz paints a picture of the familiar story of Noah, but moreover a picture of the world Noah lived in. It sounds... a little familiar. When the world is filled with immorality, violence, hatred, "fluid truth" and more we find in Genesis, how do we separate ourselves to show that, as Christians, we live life a different way?

This week Pastor Galen talked about Gideon, a man who was super brave... only he didn't know it until God told him. Pastor Karsten and producer Kasey Orr explore the idea that we might all have gifts like Gideon that we just don't know about until we hear God call us. And how do we know when we hear Him? Where's our angel under the tree?

Relevant Scripture:

Judges 6-8 (story of Gideon)

Isaiah 42:8

"Go in the strength you have." That is the key phrase from a story of a man whom God sent out to save Israel from an oppressing occupying force that had his nation hiding in caves for years. Pastor Galen explores the conversation between God's angel and a man threshing wheat in the latest message in our sermon series, Valor.

Our speaker this week said once we know who we are and discover what battle we're facing, we need to figure out a battle plan. Pastor Karsten and Kasey Orr explore how to take this information to the next step: taking a risk and entering battle.

In our series on Valor, we've explored what is needed to help us have uncommon courage in our common-day lives. We realized we are here for a purpose, and equipped by God for that purpose. We discovered we each have a battle (or several) we are faced with in our time and place, and today our guest speaker reminds us we need a battle plan.

After 30 years, we at Cheyenne Hills Church enjoy "the shade of a tree we did not plant." People like Pastor Dick Young stepped out in obedience because they got to a quiet place, and listened to what God had for them. Now, through their efforts, we are baptising new Christians and teaching people about Jesus.

So what does God have in store for you? When was the last time you asked Him? And how often do you actually listen for answers?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHEYENNE HILLS! Our church turned 30 this week! Galen uses the story of our founding to launch this week's look at the kind of courage we're called to as Christians. He dives further in with a look at Esther, and the valor she showed in a tough situation to save her people.

Disclaimor, valor was only there to visit in the form of Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder. Pastor Galen and Nathan Winters discuss the actions and words of this elected official who told U.S. Congress that the library policies pushed by the current administrations was not something that works in Wyoming.

You can voice your support at:

askthesuperintendent@wyo.gov

Pastor Karsten follows up his sermon from our Valor series exploring the battle we're chosen for, the tools we have to fight it, and the struggle to fight that battle with courage. We are weak and vulnurable in this fight, but God gave us weapons, armor and tools with which to equip ourselves. But even with those, tools, we have work to actively pursue.

Relevant Scritpure:

Ephesians 6: 11

Acts 2:32-41

Galatians 5:1; 5:13-26

[Apologies again this week for some sound issues. We've discovered the problem and it should be fixed starting next week]

Pastor Karsten continues our Valor series, exploring the question: what is the battle each of us is facing? And once we know that, how do we go about showing our courage in the fight?

Producer Kasey and Pastor Karsten jump in and discuss the ideas behind the newest Cheyenne Hills sermon series "Valor." What does that word mean, and why would we use such a high-falootin' term? Because we believe God gives us opportunities to exhibit valor in our everyday lives!

[NOTE: We had technical difficulties during this recording so please forgive the audio]

Pastor Galen kicks off our new series on the acts of valor we see in the Biblical figures, and more importantly how we can display this same characteristics in our everyday life.

Pastor Galen and Nathan Winters speak about a current subject in Laramie County School District #1 concerning school libraries, and the new idea how to give parents the reins with what their children have access to. To let your thoughts be heard in favor of the Opt-In policy, follow this link:

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=Fn80Vp_UP065Q1j08WSqMHe7acQul1VLoK7s0O2If_RUNEtMRlZMMFNYWTU2N0xQQ1kwRTE1TVVWWC4u

To read the proposed policy in whole, follow this link:

https://go.boarddocs.com/wy/laramie1/Board.nsf/files/CW2LED54A8FC/$file/9.26.2023%20Chapter%20VII%20Section%2021%20(clean).pdf

Pastor Galen wraps up this series outlining the principles behind Cheyenne Hills' new purpose statements, bringing it back to a concept we're very familiar with: making ripples of change that echo outward.

We continue to explore the elements behind the newly fortified purpose statements of our church, as René Minder uses stories from our own volunteers to illustrate the importance of discovering the purpose God has for us through our spiritual gifts, and the fulfilling results.

There may or may not be some hurt feelings around Pastor Karsten poking fun at eating cereal without milk. We all have a hurt from something in our lives, and that's why we need to surround ourselves with good Christian people, so we can help each other find healing, as well as find the freedom we're heir to as followers of Christ Jesus.

Text: LEAD to 98456 to find out about starting a Grow Group. Or go to CheyenneHills.org/groups to find an existing one!

Relevant Scripture:

James 5:16

James 3:6-12

More scripture about spending time with other Christians:

Galatians 6:2-4

Hebrews 10:25

2 Timothy 3:16

Pastor Karsten picks up the baton on this series exploring the ideas behind Cheyenne Hills' new expressions of purpose as we fortify our church processes to make stronger and more impactful disciples of Christ. One of the most important steps of this process is finding the freedom we have in Jesus by spending time with one another in small groups. We call them Grow Groups at Cheyenne Hills Church, and they are an integral part to fortifying your relationship with God and one another.

Pastor Galen hit the first tennet of Cheyenne Hills' new purpose statments, the idea that as a church we should be seeking to "Know God." He explored many elements of this in his sermon (see SermonCast), so Karsten and Kasey dig down to the heart of what that means to us individually, as well as what that looks like in our lives.

Relevant Scripture:

Matthew 28: 19

James 5: 16

Revelation 21 (whole description the new Heaven and new Earth)

Last week Pastor Galen laid out the foundation of the series, as well as the structure of the puprose statements the church is fortifying itself with: Know God, Find Freedom, Discover Your Purpose, Make a Difference.

These week he digs into the first step of this growth process: Knowing God. Who is He? What does He want from and for us?

Karsten and Kasey admit to some feelings of conviction from this week's sermon, wherein Galen reminded us we are personally responsible for following the path God laid out for us.

Join us in our new series exploring the process of shoring up, or fortifying, ourselves and indivituals and as a church. Cheyenne Hills has worked on some new ways of approaching things, and we want our congregation to come on the journey with us as we seek to better know God, find our freedom in Christ, discover His purpose for us, and make a difference in our world!

So while the metaphor of a boar in a vinyard might not hit home for most of us, it is still important for us to find the wild beast in our life that makes a mess of our spiritual journey. Following this final message from our Jukebox series on the Fruit of the Spirit from Pastor Galen on Self-Control. It really is no one's favorite thing to talk about, but it's a linchpin in our walk with Christ

Relevant Scripture:

Galatians 5:22-23

James 5:16

Hebrews 10:25

Proverbs 27:17

Yay! It's everyone's favorite trait to be confronted with, our self-control. Pastor Galen gives us several keys to understanding this final and integral piece of the Fruit of the Spirit to finish off our nine-week series.

Looking to watch a full service? Check out our Cheyenne Hills Church YouTube page for live and past services.

What is your power? Do you know? God equips His people with strengths and gifts, but if we use these the wrong way or our power gets out of control... we can cause serious damage. Pastor Karsten and producer Kasey tackle some questions to ask yourself this week to keep guest speaker Pastor Kenny White's message alive in your mind. Missed the message? Look for the SermonCast on this podcast channel!

Relevant Scripture:

Galatians 5:22-23

Ephesians 3:16

Matthew 5:5

Matthew 11:28-30

Guest speaker Pastor Kenny White gets into the real definition of gentleness: power under control. He shows examples of how Jesus modeled this, and challenged us to recognize how often we let our own power be out of control.

Two key points we chose to go into further from this week's sermon are God's pursuit of us, and our pursuit of God, and what a faithful pursuit looks like on both sides. Pastor Galen guests to unpack his message on Faithfulness, and has some interesting questions for us to ask urselves.

Relevant Scripture:

Genesis 32: 22-32

Luke 15: 11-32

Galatians 6:1

Galatians 5: 22-23

We know God is faithful, but what does that mean? We know we should be faithful, but what does that look like? This week, Pastor Galen sets out to answer these questions. Join us as we continue our series on the Fruit of the Spirit with another aspect that can be hard to define: faithfulness.

Poducer's Note: In an effort to allow for longer, more in-depth content, as well as work with Nathan and Galen's schedules, this podcast will now air once a month, and run between 30-60 minutes long. We hope this will provide more rich dives into subjects and scripture, and make our publishing more reliable. Remember to subscribe and turn on notifications to get the next episode, and we'll set a regular air date. Pastor Galen and Nathan go over some interesting films made by, about or concerning Christianity that are out now or coming soon. Nathan transitions into the notion of citizenship. More precicely, the power and peace that comes from remembering — as believers — we are citizens of the Kingdom of God in heaven, and our real home is waiting for us untarnished by the worries of our world.

Galen talked about how real goodness can only come from having God in us, so how do we know when our kind or generous actions are goodness and when we have selfish motivations? Karsten and Kasey look at the anatomy of the act of Goodness and how we can keep ourselves in check and make others a priority.

Relevant Scripture:

Luke 5:31-32 • Matthew 9: 9-13 • Mark 2: 17 (three accounts of the same conversation)

Listing words like we see in Galatians 5:22-23, they can start to blur together. What's the difference between kindness and goodness? Pastor Galen unpacks some ideas on what makes something good you may not have considered before.

Before conflicting trips, speaking engagments and life separated our dynamic podcast duo, we were two parts into a conversation about the social, cultural and political philosophy of conservatism as it pertains to the worldview and principles of Christianity. Now, finally both in the same room once again, Pastor Galen and Nathan Winters finish the conversation.

Confused, go back and check out The Chain parts 1 and 2!

If you're going to dive deep in the ocean, it's easier with the right equipment. The same thing can be said for diving into the Word of God — like Galen did when looking at the original Greek word for kindness in his sermon this week. Today, we look at a free, not-for-profit resource for in-depth Bible study called biblehub.com. We hope you can use this to discover the intricate and intentional gift God has given us in His Word.

Link to the Greek for today's word: kindness

https://biblehub.com/greek/5544.htm

Relevant scripture:

Galatians 5:22-23

Deuteronomy 6:4

We continue our series on the Fruit of the Spirit with Kindness. Pastor Galen get's into the nitty gritty of the Greek word for kindness and how much more meaning, message and instruction can be found in Galatians 5:22-23.

WHOA! Pastor Galen's sermon talked about hearing what God has to say to us and being able to pay attention when He speaks in order to experience the Peace Jesus himself left us. Pastor Karsten and producer Kasey take it from there this week diving deeper into what it looks like to experience the Peace Paul is speaking of in Galatians 5:22-23 when describing the Fruit of the Spirit, and what Christ promised to leave with us in John 14:27. In the passage in John's gospel, Jesus said he'd leave us His peace, but "not as the world gives do I give to you." So what in our world do we confuse with the Peace we're expecting from our relationship with God and Christ? Karsten also gives us an applicable formula that fits with Philippians 4:6.

Relevant Scriptures:

Galatians 5:22-23

John 14:27

Philippians 4:5-6

Isaiah 26:3

Peace is a word that can seem vague, but Pastor Galen unpacks the kind of Peace God has to offer as we continue through our Jukebox series about the Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians chapter 5.

Pastor Karsten spoke on patience this week in our ongoing series based on the fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5:22-23. We go deeper into building our patience muscles, and unpack a word that Paul uses a LOT in his letter to Galatia: circumcision. It means a lot more than just the ritual act itself.

Relevant Scripture:

Galatians 2: 7

Galatians 2: 11-16

Matthew 5: 17-19

We'd encourage everyone to read all of Galatians since we'll be talking about it for another 6 weeks!

We continue this series covering the Fruit of the Spirit, but in the order of their choosing (thus the title Jukebox). This week, Pastor Karsten covers patience.

Wait? What?! The sermon was about joy, so how did we get talking about crucifying things? Well when you hang with Keith — just like getting real with Paul's words — you're going to have to face the hard part if you want to truly get the joy. Right after Paul lists the Fruit we'll see as a result of walking in the Spirit, he reminds us that "those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified" their sinful nature, and the passions and desires that go with it. So what can we built into our processes and habits in life to regularly inspect that we're producing fruit, and our flesh is nailed securely to the cross?

It's Keith Kautz turn this week to hit the ol' Fruit of the Spirit jukebox, and his pick this week happened to be the next on the list in Galatians 5: 22, and that's JOY! Keith sets up the whole reason Paul is talking bout fruit in the first place before hitting a topic that seems easy to talk about, but has a lot of big questions attached. Like, is God joyful? How do we have joy when things in life are truly hard? Join us for this week's sermon and find out what the judge thinks!

Another week of a little different format. This time Kieth Kautz visiting the studio with producer Kasey Orr to talk more about Galatians 5 and the fruit of the Spirit. Keith helps lay the groundwork for why Paul is even talking about fruit in the first place! And why is the simple conjunction "but" so important when we flip to Galatians 5:22 in our Bible?

This week Pastor Karsten and producer Kasey Orr dive deeper into the first sermon of the new series featuring the Fruit of the Spirit. In God's love for us, He took risks showing us grace through Christ, especially when we have a habit of accepting that gift... and then turning around and cheapening it by using that freedom "to satisfy our sinful nature." [Galatians 5:13 NLT]

Instead, how can we show the world how truly big God's grace is?

Relevant Scriptures:

Genesis 1: 28

Galatians 5: 13-26

1 Corinthians 13: 3-8

Luke 7:36-48

We kick off our Jukebox series featuring the fruit of the spirit with the first mentioned by Paul in the Galations 5:22-23 passage — love. Paul states in 1 Corinthians the importance and complexity of love, and Pastor Galen adds that one of the most important parts of love is RISK. God takes a risk in love by granting us free will; we take a risk in loving and worshipping God; and finally we take risks when entering in the bond of marriage here on earth as well.

One of the themes that connect resent sermon messages and the upcoming series is "fruitfulness." Between recounting an adventure of a trip to the east coast, Pastor Galen and producer Kasey Orr discuss the nature of the "works of the flesh" versus the "fruit of the Spirit" as described in Galatians chapter 5. They talk about the connections between the freedom Pastor Karsten talked about last week, and this continuing battle between the flesh and Spirit.

We hope everyone had a great 4th of July, where we got to celebrate the freedoms we enjoy in this country here on Earth, but Pastor Karsten's message this past weekend was on the more important kind of freedom, that to which we have been called in Christ Jesus.

Our challenge this week: try to cultivate the three habits from this week's message into your lives, so we don't get this awesome gift of freedom, but stay sitting in our cage and not moving forward in our walk with God.

Relevant Scripture:

Galatians 5: 13

John 3: 3-20

A bonus bit of scripture 1 Kings 19: 11-12

"And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper."

Pastor Karsten Sween leads us in a special Fourth of July weekend message. As we celebrate our nation's founding, we remember the worldly freedoms we enjoy today were bought by love, blood and sacrifice. So much the more do we enjoy a freedom that is greater by far thanks to the love, blood and sacrifice of our savior Jesus Christ! But what do we do with that freedom? How are we good stewards of this amazing gift given to us by God?

Note: Companion podcast for this episode will air Wednesday afternoon due to the holiday. Happy 4th of July!

Pastor Galen finishes out this series on eschatology (end times) by reminding us again why we should care: because we don't know what time we have left. Not to be alarmed, not to be afraid, but in order that we might diligently be fruitful. All through the gospels Jesus made it very clear he was looking for fruitfulness, and not knowing when the master will return, we are called to be better than the bridesmaids in the parable and not be found napping with lanterns empty of oil when he returns.

Note: Companion Podcast experienced technical difficulties with the recording, and therefor won't air this week. But we'll see you next week for Pastor Karsten's 4th of July message!

Nathan and Pastor Galen continue the second of three pieces on the Biblical roots of foundational American values, and the onus of each generation to forge their link in the chain of history so that these values are not lost forever.

This week we dive deep into a subject Galen brought up in his sermon in the third part of The Great Reset series, and that is the danger of nominal Christians who weaponize scripture. It forces us to ask ourselves, am I living my life as a true Christian led by the Holy Spirit in a journey to be more like Christ, or do I just use scripture to get my way and religion to feel good about myself? It's a scary question! Men who use Ephesians 5:22 to abuse and dominate women, leaders who us Fundamentalism or Legalism to hold authority over others instead of living a life of service, these are just a few examples of what can come from God's Word weilded by the wrong hands.

Relevant Scripture:

Ephesians 5: 22

Matthew 202: 20-28

Galatians 5: 13