Summary In this sermon, Pastor Mike addresses why many Christians struggle with burnout despite knowing biblical teachings on rest and Sabbath. The key message is that deep-seated lies—such as the need for perfection, the obligation to make [...]

Summary In his sermon "Burned Out? Spiritually," Mike Novotny wraps up the burnout series by digging into that deep soul tiredness that hits when we're juggling too many responsibilities, scared of letting people down or losing their [...]

Summary In his sermon "Burned Out? Physically," Mike Novotny kicks off a series on burnout by explaining how today's nonstop culture—thanks to smartphones, lights, and constant connectivity—plus American hustle, Christian "do [...]

Summary In his Easter sermon "Jesus Means Life After Death for You," Mike Novotny gets into why Easter is such a huge deal—it tackles our two biggest questions: Who is this Jesus guy really, and what about death? He runs through [...]

Summary In his sermon "Jesus Is the ONLY Way to Heaven," Mike Novotny gets into those heavy moments when life hits hard in family, friends, health, money, or faith, and how we usually either escape the pain or obsess over fixing it—but [...]

Summary In his sermon "Connected to Jesus, You Will Grow," Mike Novotny looks at those tough moments that make people want to quit on faith—like when you're doing everything "right" but life still hurts (confusion), when [...]

Summary In his sermon "No One Can Keep You Safe Like Jesus," Mike Novotny dives into why Jesus' claims—like calling himself the "I AM" and the Good Shepherd in John 10—rub people the wrong way and force a decision: [...]

Summary In his sermon "Without Jesus, There's Only Darkness," Mike Novotny cuts through all the cultural noise where everyone claims Jesus is on their side—whether it's debates on gender, family, or judging others—and says the [...]

Summary In his sermon "Why You Need Jesus," Mike Novotny tackles why so many people are walking away from Christianity these days—like how it dropped from nine out of ten Americans claiming faith back in the '80s to just six out of [...]

Summary In his Christmas sermon "Joy to the World," Mike Novotny explains why real, lasting joy is so hard to find—most people who care about us can't actually fix our deepest messes, and those who could often don't bother—but [...]

Summary In the sermon "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," Pastor Mike Novotny unpacks the deep theological truths hidden within this classic Christmas carol. He explains how the lyrics proclaim the miraculous reconciliation between God and [...]

Summary In his sermon "Away in a Manger," Pastor Mike Novotny explores the profound depth of the Christmas story, focusing on how the "awayness" of Jesus in the manger brings him closer to our struggles. He encourages listeners [...]

Summary In his sermon "How to Talk About Jesus 101," Mike Novotny gets real about why so many Christians freeze up when it comes to sharing their faith—it's scary, unpredictable, and we worry about messing up relationships or saying [...]

Summary Mike Novotny's sermon "What if I Don't Understand the Bible?" really speaks to anyone who's picked up the Bible and gone, "Huh?"—like he did back in high school, reading it straight through and hitting [...]

Summary In "The Boundaries," wrapping up his "Screens & Souls" series, Mike Novotny says screens aren't bad in themselves, but if you're the type who always ends up going way too far with them, the smart move is to [...]

Summary In "The Bad," the follow-up in his "Screens & Souls" series, Mike Novotny gets real about how too much screen time sneaks in and messes with our families, friendships, and faith—without us even watching anything bad. [...]

Summary Pastor Mike Novotny kicks off his "Screens and Souls" series with this sermon called "The Blessings," basically asking if all our screens and tech are helping or hurting our lives, families, friendships, and faith. He [...]

Summary Learn how to support friends struggling with adultery with biblical wisdom from Pastor Mike Novotny. Discover how to balance grace and truth, encourage repentance, and provide Christian guidance in difficult times. The Challenge of [...]

Back around middle school, a bunch of my friends and I, toilet papered one of neighbor's houses, and in the process, we bought from a local hunting store, a small bottle of deer urine, which we splattered all over his front porch. But before [...]

Whenever I hear about controversial issues in society, in the church, when it comes to morality, I have, I don't think I have ever once heard someone say that Jesus was wrong and they are right. Right? Have you ever heard that? Have you ever [...]

I hope you don't think less of me for admitting this, but there's a part of me, and it's a pretty substantial part of me that likes to sin. I have a lot of experience that makes me say that. I've been through about 41 years of [...]

When I stand up here and look at you, when you sit out there, or you're watching at home and you're looking back at me, I think what both of us would want is the fun stuff of the Christian faith, and there's lot of it. Yeah, I want to [...]

"Do you remember me"? I looked at her kind of familiar face and tried to smile and nod, but inside, the alarm was going off in my brain. Mayday, mayday, this is about to be very, very awkward. I wanted to so badly, but there's [...]

There's a question that has caused me more confusion, and frustration, and tension as a pastor than almost any other. And when I share this question with you, you might think it's a joke and it might seem a bit small but I'm being [...]

Why are you here today? Now, as you process what that reason might be, I think there are two big categories that you can fall in. And you might realize, okay, it was a job, it was a move, it was a friend, it was a relationship. But if you're [...]

So, way back in 1953, a 24-year-old guy, Atlanta native stood at the altar, look the love of his life in her eyes and vowed to love her deeply until death would do them part. Just a year later, in the mid-1950s, this same young man received a call [...]

Now, as we kick things off today with week number one, I want to ask you, it's a really simple, honest question, the question is, as you look back on your life or think about the spot where you're in life right now, have you ever felt as [...]

Did any of you know that four out of the five pastors of our church, almost didn't make it? I recently asked some pretty personal questions to our pastoral team, and got their permission to share with you. And they confessed to me that four out [...]

Imagine if every mom and every dad would only focus on their own behavior and never judge their own children. Moms, dads, what do you think about that? You know, little Billy, smacking little Johnny in the face. And mom says to dad, "Should we [...]

Like, the one guy was definitely the outgoing of the couple. He was a storyteller, a talker. He was passionate, sometimes, funny. Sometimes, inappropriate. A lot like me. Like, "Oh, I can relate to this guy". You know, one minute he says [...]

So, what do the movies Moana, Mulan, Monsters Inc., The Greatest Showman, Coco, Aladdin, Brave, and Beauty and the Beast all have in common? All of them, if you watch and takes notes, and listen carefully, all of them actually have the same moral, [...]

You ever had an experience, where it just felt, it just seem like God was speaking directly to you? Like, not necessarily you're in church, open Bible, you know, reading the Word of God, but there's just, there's something about the [...]

I want to talk to you today about you and about God and about money. Yaay we're preaching about, yeah, so I know that when a pastor or church wants to talk about finances and not just faith when someone gets really personal with what seems like [...]

Here in this world, among us, and in our families, even in our church, anger can happen at the wrong time, at the wrong extent, and be directed towards the wrong people. Anger could do real damage in your life and in mine. I see two real reasons why [...]

It kind of hit me the other day how God has surrounded my life with incredibly organized, hardworking women. I don't know if it's just a me thing or a lots of us thing, but has God put a lot of like, hardworking, go-getter, box-checking, [...]

Like, think of your childhood, think of your school years, think of your romantic life, think of your professional life, think of athletics, think of academics. Doesn't so much of how we feel about ourselves come down to that simple question, [...]

So, I was thinking about it, this past week, and it kind of hit me that I feel bad for Easter. They say that there are two "don't miss moments" in the Christian faith: Christmas and Easter. The birth of the Savior who came to rescue [...]

When my wife, Kim, and I were raising our two daughters, when they were really little, there were three songs that we used to sing to them, day after day, after day, after day, and week, after week, after week, after week because we really wanted [...]

I'm not sure if anyone's every told you this, but there are two things the Bible says about God that you can't miss. The Bible says that God is like a treasure that's at the end of a tight rope. You ever heard that before? I [...]

Let's start with a show of hands. How many of you who are here in church today, or how many of you who are watching out there at home, hands nice and high, how many of you have been born? Just as I suspected. Alright. Another easy question. How [...]

You do not have to say it out loud but when you woke up this morning did you feel like you know despite all the flaws and imperfections that everyone deals with that you had relatively good, meaningful, purposeful, worth living life. As you think [...]

In early 2020, I got to explore Israel. "I'm sitting literally in the place where Jesus' feet touched". I saw some amazing places. "The old city of Jerusalem, the Garden of Gethsemane, beautiful Nazareth, and the Mount of [...]

Like, Jesus would tell crowds of people, "Hey, before you follow me, before you're all in, before you surrender your heart, do you know the cost"? Now, Jesus didn't mean that you had to pay him like, to get into the Christian [...]

Do you ever have any untrue, difficult, maybe even toxic thoughts that you don't just think, you know, on occasion or once a year but the thoughts that kind of come back to your brain day after day, week after week, season after season? I do. [...]

Whether it's the words that come from a friend, a show we're watching, a radio program or a scroll, the words that we consume rarely stop at simply being words. It's almost like a domino effect with the words that we hear, the stuff [...]

Recently, I read every single Bible passage in the entire Bible that use the words think, thinks, thinking, thought, thoughts, and thoughtful. Because apparently, I don't have very many friends. Alright? I didn't have much to do so I dove [...]

Today, I want you, and I want me to slow down just a bit, slow down our busy lives and open, not just our Bibles, but a dictionary as well so that we can read this holy book, this book that has the power to change everything about everything, and [...]

Before I ever heard of a Spotify playlist, or created my first iTunes account, or told Alexa on my little smart device to play my favorite music, my musical selection looked like this. Do you all remember this? This is just a great reminder why [...]

About every month or so, I buzz in at the back door of our local jail. I click that little buzzer, I wait for the intercom, I introduce myself, the door clicks, I walk through the sterile hallway, I fish up to the left, I wait for the doors to open. [...]

Last Friday, I got to have a conversation with a guy I had never met before. Someone who watches our church services online. I'd given him my number. I picked him up on the phone on a Friday afternoon. And before I hung up the phone, I found [...]