September 29, 2025 • 28 mins
What if the most peaceful season of your life still made room for worry—and that became your greatest teacher? Coming back from a seven-week sabbatical, I share the highs and hiccups: hiking the Dolomites on breathless trails, a tense comedy of errors while driving in Germany, simple joy with my granddaughter, and the quiet ways God showed up when the plans didn’t. Along the way, Jesus’ piercing question—“Why worry?”—moved from a verse I knew to a practice I needed.
We trace that question through the Sermon on the Mount where birds and wildflowers become our teachers. You’ll hear how splitting our trust between God and control fuels anxiety, why 91% of our fears never materialize, and how small, concrete shifts—like a guide’s calm instructions on a cliff—can retrain the heart toward faith. I talk about breath prayers on steep climbs, choosing attention over rumination, and what it means to seek the kingdom first when life feels loud, uncertain, or just plain exhausting.
A redemption story brings it home: a friend once marked by addiction, prison, and loss found freedom in Christ before the state ever granted her pardon. When the legal “yes” finally came, it confirmed what grace had already settled. That’s the heartbeat here—God’s provision is steadier than our plans, His timing wiser than our calendars, and His presence nearer than our fear. If you’re carrying worries about family, health, money, or the future, this conversation offers Scripture, honesty, and practical steps to release control and rest in the One who holds tomorrow. Subscribe, share with someone who needs courage today, and leave a review telling us the one worry you’re ready to lay down.
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SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
For that.
Welcome back.
I'm excited to be back and inthe office.
If you don't know who I am, myname is Sonia Knudsen.
I'm an associate here for PastorRyan and for this team.
And I have been on a sabbaticalfor the last seven and a
half-ish weeks, and it has beena blessing in so many ways.
If you don't know what asabbatical is, it's a time, a
way where you can rest andrestore and reflect and look to
(00:24):
the past, look for what you'recurrently living in, and look
also to the future.
And I did a lot of that.
I am looking to the future ofretirement in two years.
Yes.
I can't wait.
But also, this gave me a tasteof what retirement is going to
look like.
I was very excited to get backthough.
I can't tell you how much I lovemy job.
I love this team.
(00:44):
I love the leadership of thisteam.
I love this body.
And it was a breath of fresh airto walk back into this place
yesterday as I prepared.
When before I left, Ryan askedme to preach this Sunday as I
come back and to give a summaryof what my sabbatical looked
like, my time away, and also toshare some pictures and some
stories of that.
So I'm going to do that on thefront end.
(01:06):
And basically, the summary of mytime away was God in my travel
time.
It was God in my friendships.
It was God in my family time.
It was God in the safety of ourtravel time and our adventures.
We spent a lot of time.
I spent a lot of time in theStates, but also we were in
Europe.
We spent time in Italy andGermany and Austria with a group
(01:26):
of friends.
So I wanted, I want to sharesome pictures of what this
looked like and some of theblessings that I had.
One week I spent with a friendnamed Joan.
She's here and a friend namedNikki.
Joan and I spent time hiking alot.
That's if you know me, I lovewalking and hiking and taking
adventures up of climbing crazymountains and doing things that
most people might not do.
(01:48):
And she is such a blessing to mylife, and she is accepting to do
any of these adventures that Iput in front of them, including
a via ferrata, which if you'renot familiar with that, means
you're like climbing straight upa mountain using cables and rods
and doing fun things.
And she's like, sure, I'll dothat.
In fact, I text her, hey, whatabout a via ferrata?
And it was like a pause.
I'm like, she's gonna say no.
(02:09):
She's gonna say no.
And she came back with a sure, Ican do that.
And then my next week was spentwith Nikki in Door County,
Wisconsin, northern part ofWisconsin.
And we kayaked Lake Michigan,and I got her to do a zip line.
And she too is not necessarilyan adventurous person, but she
was willing to take theseadventures with me, and she
loved it as well.
(02:30):
I also spent time uh with myfamily.
This is my little nuggetgranddaughter Kyrie, who turned
three on uh September 2nd.
We had her Sesame Streetbirthday party yesterday, and
that's her parents, Philip andmy grand, my daughter-in-law,
Kara.
And then I spent time with myother son.
This is Connor.
He went hiking actually with usin the Dolomites in Italy, so
that was a blast.
(02:50):
And he came back with us and hestill loves his mommy.
So, you know, life life is goodin that area.
Um, we traveled a lot.
Oh, I spend a lot of time withmy dog.
That's my husband, too, not tonot to buffer you.
That sounded terrible.
My dog got tension over.
I do love my dog, though, a lot.
He's a little schnauzer and hehikes and walks with us a lot.
But you know, my stride is quitelarge and he's got these little
(03:12):
legs.
So I did buy him a backpack, sohe walks about a mile and then
he just lays down and he's like,I'm out done.
And I throw him in the backpackand off we go and we do a couple
more miles.
That is my husband, Jeff, aswell.
And then uh with this crazygroup, that's Bob and Joan
Ruprecht, members here, um, ourgood friend Tim Barthel, my son
Connor, and my husband Jeff, wewent for 16 days to and we hike
(03:34):
the Dolomite Mountains, which isin the northern part of Italy.
And then um a group of us, asmaller group of us, went to
Germany and Austria, and we didsome sightseeing, and we we love
history and architecture, sothat was great, great fun too.
I have to say, some of myfavorite things that we did is
to venture through all of thecathedrals in Europe.
I mean, words can't even explainthe beauty of all of them.
(03:55):
And we saw castles and palaces,and we went to these stunning
little villages.
That's Rottenberg.
Is Nikki Nordmeyer here?
No.
So she was saying she knew I wasgonna go to Germany, and she's
like, you have to go seeRottenberg, and I did, and it
was amazing.
Um, and it looks just thischarming.
In fact, this city or thisvillage was saved both in World
(04:16):
War I and World War II becauseof how charming and rustic it
was.
And even the Nazis said this isthe German most German town
there is, and so they preservedit.
Even the Americans, when theycame over after the World War,
they didn't let any bombs orattacks.
The only damage this town hasever had is because of an
earthquake in Germany.
Um, and it it demolished one ofits castles, but stunning little
(04:37):
village.
We um went to the concentrationcamp in Daha, which I would
encourage any of you if you everhave a chance to do that,
because it reminds us of wherewe should never go again in our
life.
And it was asked, why did youkeep this concentration camp as
a memorial site?
So we never go back to thisplace again.
Um, we drank a lot.
That sounds terrible, but youknow, we're in Italy and we're
(05:00):
in Germany.
So you're gonna drink wine andyou're gonna drink beer.
And I don't even like beer.
And I tried the beer, and thatwas that was super fun.
And then we ate lots of funfoods.
This is a why are you laughing?
This is a schneelballin, it'sit's a snowball.
My decision of it is eh, it'sokay.
I think really it's krunkacathat that kind of fell apart,
(05:22):
and then they just rolled it upin white chocolate and chocolate
chocolate and made it a ball.
I'm like, I was so excited totry it, wasn't I, Tim and Jeff?
And I'm like, I don't know, it'sit's okay.
But I checked it off my list.
I did that.
And then, of course, we had lotsof gelata, uh, gelato because we
were in Italy.
But honestly, my favorite wasindoor county.
Um, I had an amazing gelato froma little Russian gelato shop.
(05:44):
So get that.
Um, then of course, the hiking,because that's what I do.
So from August 8th throughSeptember 24th, I know get ready
to say, oh my gosh, I hiked orwalked 458 miles.
But really, oh no, no, becausereally, if you spread that out
(06:04):
over that many days, it's onlynine miles a day.
So, like, you know, but I canadd elevation into that and you
know the lack of breathingbecause we were up so high in
many of those situations.
But the mountains wereincredible in the Dolomites.
The trails were uh strenuous andchallenging for sure, but the
view it didn't matter becausethe views overtook everything.
The one thing that I loved, Ithink, the most was this is uh
(06:27):
Coldalana.
It's at the top of BloodMountain.
Um, and it was, I think, oursecond to the last hike, guys.
Last hike.
So this one was basically a ViaFerrata.
There was lots of cables, lotsof rods, very strenuous hike up
there.
And then at the top, there'sthis chapel that was built for
World War I veterans who losttheir life.
(06:48):
Um, stunning, uh, tearful forsure when we were at the top of
this mountain.
Um, and we got to see a lot ofbunkers and trenches, and it was
it was all very fascinating.
We saw a lot of cows on ourhiking, which my husband said, I
think they're mocking me becausethe one day we were going pretty
strenuous, like we would take ahundred steps and we would all
(07:08):
have to stop and breathe becausethe elevation was so high.
And here's this cow, likewalking right past us.
And Jeff's like, that's noteven, that's not even fair.
I can't even breathe at thispoint.
But it was beautiful to see, andthat's my husband.
He we thought we found a gnomeup in in the mountains, so that
was really fun.
(07:29):
Um, but my favorite time was mytime alone with God.
Uh, whether I was hiking alone,whether it was hiking with my
friends or my family, I was in,I felt like I was in constant
and Joan could vie for this.
I'm in constant conversationwith God all the time, asking
him for clarification orendurance and perseverance and
joy, even when I'm struggling alittle bit.
(07:50):
So, overall, I hope that you cansee that this trip was amazing
and um I was fully blessed.
And yet, no matter how wonderfulthis trip was, I couldn't help
but pay attention to all of thetimes that I was worrying on
this trip.
And maybe it's because I knewthis sermon was coming up and I
had to prepare for why the whyworry question.
(08:11):
We're in this series of thequestions that Jesus asked, and
I had picked why, why do weworry?
So, of course, it was fresh onmy mind.
However, I found myselflegitimately worrying for my
children who were back here inthe States, or my granddaughter.
I was worrying for my dog whowas going to be babysat by my
father-in-law, who doesn'tnecessarily love indoor dogs,
(08:32):
but they were together for 16days.
And then I worried for myfather-in-law who's watching my
dog, and then I worried who'sgoing to survive this time
between the two of them, butthey did great.
I worried for our adventures andour weathers prior to going.
Um, we had been watching theweather.
And out of the eight hiking daysthat we were supposed to have,
literally it was like 90% chanceof rain every single day.
(08:53):
And we only had one day of rain.
Praise God.
That was amazing.
I worried about my friends andtheir health.
One of my dearest friends hadelevation sickness the very
first day, and we got to thesummit of that mountain, and it
was not pretty at all, like whatcame out of his body.
But he made it and we were good.
I was also worried that some ofmy friends, we not might not be
friends when we got back.
(09:14):
Because when I asked my friends,like, hey, let's do this, let's
do that.
This is sometimes the look Igot.
That's my friend Nikki.
I'm like, let's go zip lining.
She's like, What are you makingme do right now?
Trust me.
I was also worried that my son,who's 29, who uh came with us,
he was the only 20-ish personthat came.
And I'm like, is he still gonnalike me when we get back?
(09:36):
Because, you know, I'm stillmom.
I always wear my mom hatwherever I'm at.
And that could be kind ofannoying after 16 days of it.
So either way, the biggest worryI think I had was driving in
Austria and Germany.
So when we left Italy, stoplaughing.
When we when we left Italy, itwas me, my best friend Joan left
me, and I'm stuck with thesemen.
(09:57):
So it's Jeff and Tim and myConnor, and I'm in this car.
I was the designated driver.
So all the way, you already knowhow to pray for me.
So I'm the designated driver.
We're not even out of the carramp, and all three of them are
barking, rah rah, rah, like, dothis, don't do that.
You're too close to the I'mlike, I became a Southern
Baptist.
I'm like, dear Jesus, I juststopped the car.
I'm like, you need to give mepatience.
(10:18):
You need to shut the mouths thatare in this car right now.
You need to make me understandthe signs and how narrow the
roads are, and you need to giveus a calm and a peace.
Amen.
And it was quiet for like twominutes.
And my son said, Well, that wasfun.
Let's go.
It was great.
(10:39):
So who knew that prayer had somuch power, right?
I mean, Jesus does.
And that's why we're here thismorning with this question and
this answer.
And before we begin thismorning, how many of you got
this little piece of paper?
So if you don't, I'm gonna askthe ushers if they're out there.
If you can hear me, ushers, ifyou don't, raise your hand.
Because I would love for you tohave one of these pieces of
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paper that says things I worryabout.
Things I worry about.
And they will come up the aislesand give them out.
Because obviously, when I was onmy sabbatical, this time that
I'm supposed to be in rest andreflection and reset, I was even
finding time to worry.
So before we get into the whyquestion, why we worry, I want
you to think about the thingsthat you worry about, just
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flippantly off the top of yourhead.
What things do you worry about?
First of all, if you havechildren, you worry, right?
Right, baptism family?
You worry because you havechildren.
And it doesn't matter.
I wish I could make you feelbetter and think, oh, she'll
grow out of the worry.
She doesn't, because I haveadult children and you still
worry.
It I think it's worsepersonally.
If you have aging parents, youworry.
(11:44):
If you have health concerns, youworry.
If you have a job or don't havea job, you probably spend some
time in worry.
If your relationships aresomewhat broken, you probably
spend some time worrying everyday.
If you're grocery shopping ortrying to fill your gas, your
car with gas, I would betthere's some point in your life
(12:05):
that you worry.
So take a minute and eitherthink about the things that you
worry, or if you have a pen or apencil and there's pencils in
the back of the pew, I would askthat you jot down some of those
things that you worry about.
(12:38):
We come to you this morning withall of these things that weigh
on our hearts and on our minds,and that consume us with worry.
And we lift to you, Pastor Ryanand his family and his stepdad
Fred.
We know that Fred is so close toending his earthly life, and we
are excited that he gets to joinyou into his eternal life.
(13:02):
But this is a difficult time forthem, family, as they say
goodbye.
And so we pray for Diane andtheir extended family and
everything that they are walkingthrough.
We pray for safe travels as hecomes back here.
Pray for safety as Katie travelsto be with Ryan and the family.
We pray for the things thatconsume us, the things that are
out of our control, becausethat's what worry is often, is
(13:24):
things that we are trying tocontrol and we can't.
We lift them to you and weentrust them into your hands,
knowing that you have a betterplan than what we could ever
have.
I give you this message thismorning.
I pray that there are words init that need to be set on
someone's heart and someone'smindset that will cleanse them
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from the worry and the anxietyand the fears that they live in.
That they will be able torecognize that you are bigger
than any worry that we carry.
The worries that we have hereare the worries of the world.
We entrust our worries, ourthoughts, our concerns into your
hands at this time.
Father, and we love you.
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In your name we pray.
Amen.
Well, we are starting thisseries actually three weeks ago.
We did it.
It's called This Isn'tRhetorical, and we are going
through all of the questionsthat Jesus asked in his ministry
work.
And I love that Jesus askedopen-ended questions with hows
and whys throughout his ministryto stimulate thought and to test
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our faith, to establishrelationships and to reveal
spiritual truths of hisfollowers and those that
challenged his leadership.
And just like today's question,why worry?
The questions were not intendedto ignore reality or dismiss
legitimate concerns, but ratherthe questions were designed to
shift perspective fromhuman-centered thoughts to
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God-centered thoughts.
The question why worry comesfrom the popular Sermon on the
Mount, which is found in boththe book of Matthew that Janet
shared with us and is echoedalso in the book of Luke.
And it was asked to challengehis listeners not once, but five
times, if you heard as Janetread the story for us.
He challenges five times in justthis narrative alone.
(15:10):
Worry seems to be anever-constant struggle for most
of us, doesn't it?
I shared how I worried on mypeaceful yet not so peaceful
sabbatical because of myhuman-centered thoughts and
concerns.
And think of how crazy that is.
I was on a sabbatical, a timefor rest and reflection, and yet
I worried.
(15:32):
And we all worry.
In fact, Forbes Health reportedthis past spring that over 60%
of all Americans claim to worryon a daily basis.
And America, as a culture, isthe most worried nation in our
world.
Isn't that an honor not to beproud of?
But it makes sense when youthink of our value system and
the melting pot that we live in.
(15:52):
It is who we are.
We are worriers, and we are toofamiliar with the gnawing,
uneasy feeling, the sleeplessnights, and the mental replays
of the what-ifs that roll in ourheads nonstop.
Worry is a tug of war betweenfaith and fear and peace and
panic, trust and control.
And if we're being honest, manyof us are losing the battle as
(16:14):
we invite worry into our livesby making our highest priority
something other than God.
And why?
Why do we worry?
It doesn't produce anythinggood, and rarely does it come to
fruition.
Penn State did a study in 2020over a lengthy period, and the
results showed that 91% of allthe worry did not come true.
(16:35):
It did not come to fruition.
Look back at that list that youjust created.
91% of that list will not cometrue.
So why are we wasting our timeworrying when it most likely
will not happen?
Not to mention it adds stress,physical strain, wrinkles, and
it is proven to make you eatmore ice cream.
(16:57):
I mean, just look at my housesome days.
Worry, which is a combination ofemotion and a desire for
control, is a natural responseto life in circumstances that as
Christ followers, shouldn't weknow better than to waste our
time on it?
Don't we have the tools to avoidworrying and to give us a sense
of peace?
Isn't that what the Bible is allabout?
(17:19):
Scripture is known forredirecting our worry and gives
us the confidence we need toconquer any circumstance.
And today's reading illustratesthis with images of nature as
Jesus uses birds and flowers tomake his point after warning his
listeners in the previousscripture that we can't have two
treasures, and when we do, thisis when worry sets in.
(17:40):
If you peek back at Matthew 6,verse 24, we see where the worry
question is rooted when Jesusasks the question No one can
serve two masters.
Either you will hate the one andlove the other, or you will be
devoted to one and despise theother.
You cannot serve both God andmoney because when we do, we
open ourselves to destructionand to worry.
(18:03):
And he then moves hisillustration when he says,
Therefore I tell you, do notworry.
Birds neither plant crops norharvest fields, yet they never
lack provision, because theirneeds are met by a Father who
sustains them day by day.
These creatures don't struggle,they don't worry, they don't
stockpile, they simply depend onand know that he will provide.
(18:26):
Jesus uses the birds of the airas a symbol to teach about God's
provisions and to encourage usto trust in him for our needs
rather than surrendering toworry.
And he goes on to say, Are younot more valuable than they?
implying that if God providesfor the birds, the creatures
that he has no relationshipwith, then why would he not
provide for us?
(18:46):
In other words, why should weworry?
Are we blind to the track recordof God's provision?
Think of the Israeliteswandering and wandering in the
wilderness.
God sent them manna from heaven,water from a rock, and he made
sure that their clothes didn'twear.
They never earned it, but theyreceived it, yet they still
(19:07):
doubted, as often we do.
We panic over what's next whilestanding in the overflow of what
God has already done for us.
We see only what we can cling toand what is right in front of
us, which reminds me of my ViaFerrata climb with my dear
friend Joan.
This is a climb that we wereuncomfortable with, and my
friend is afraid of heights.
(19:27):
And for good reason, she wasnervous and worried about this
climb.
She clung to the rock quiteoften.
And our brilliant glide, who wasa young man, helped her through
her worries and her fears byusing words and phrases such as,
Joan, what if you pushedyourself away from the rock so
you could see what was aroundyou, what was coming next?
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Or, Joan, I see that your leftfoot is in an awkward position.
What if you took that foot back,used your right foot, and
shifted to the other ledge?
How would that feel?
Would you feel safe?
Would that feel morecomfortable?
And as I listened to hisguidance and support and
observed her finding peace andtrust in his words, I couldn't
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help but think this is Jesus inour worry when he is trying to
move us towards him.
He's saying, like to me, Sonia,what if you pushed yourself away
from the things that you worryabout, the things that you're
trying to control and youtrusted me in them?
How would that feel?
Or, Sonia, what if you shiftedyour weight and moved your steps
(20:34):
to somewhere else?
What if you moved away from yourplan and stepped into my plan?
How would that feel?
Would you feel safe?
Sounds easy, doesn't it?
But we don't do that.
Instead, we let worry take over,which then defeats our faith and
shrinks our view of God and hisabilities in our lives.
(20:55):
And in our story today, Jesuslovingly addresses that thought
and he rebukes his followerswith the phrase, you of little
faith.
Not to shame them, but to helpthem see how worry diminishes
their confidence in God.
In Matthew 6:30, Jesus points tothe grass and the flowers of the
fields, noting that they aretemporary and fragile and yet
(21:17):
clothed with beauty, and he issaying, if God gives that much
attention to things that lastonly a day, will he not provide
enough for you?
When we choose worry, we're notjust doubting God's provision.
We're placing our confidence inthe worst possible outcome,
making our problems seem biggerthan his power.
But when we live in faith, welift our eyes above the storms
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that we wade through, and we sayand can see what Jesus' way is
in our life, and we can trustthe one who is in front of us,
which reminds me of mygranddaughter when she worries,
and we try to teach her to leaninto Jesus.
We took her to the fair thispast August, and she was so
excited to ride the carouselhorse.
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She's three years old, and she'dbeen watching the carousel go
round and round and round.
She picked her favorite horse,which of course is white and
blue.
And when it was time for us toget on the ride, she said, Nana,
come with me.
So I did, and I lifted her up onthe horse.
And here's my Kyrie when she'sexcited.
Kyrie, are you excited?
So she's holding onto the pole,and the carousel ride starts and
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it goes down and it's going backup and it's shaking kind of
funny.
And as it's going back up, itmade the screeching sound.
She's like, All done.
Like she wanted nothing to dowith this horse.
I'm like, oh girl, we're notgetting off the carousel horse.
They're not stopping it for us.
I said, you know what?
You look scared and worried.
Nana's gonna help you with this.
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Put her fingers back on thepole.
I put my hand over her.
I said, shut your little eyesand let's pray.
And together we said, DearJesus, and she's like, Dear
Jesus, make this ride gosmoothly.
Let her find joy in this ride.
And let her trust you and everymovement the horse makes.
And before we knew it, the ridewas done.
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She jumped off the horse and shesaid, That silly horse.
Her mama asked her, You lookedworried on that ride.
Was everything okay?
What helped you?
She just kept strutting awaybecause she has all attitude.
Jesus, that's all she needed tosay.
In the moment, Kyrie could notsee the way through her worry,
but she trusted the one who didthrough prayer and the power of
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his name.
And she was calm.
Ah, the faith of a child.
Amen.
And friends, when we seek himfirst and we call out his name,
we too are drawn to the commonsense of our faith, and our
storms are calmed as well, whichis described in our scripture
next when Jesus says, Seek firsthis kingdom and his
righteousness, and all thesethings will be given to you as
(23:47):
well.
Therefore, do not worry abouttomorrow, for tomorrow will
worry about itself.
Each day has enough trouble ofits own.
Jesus, in his love and hiswisdom, offers us a better way.
He doesn't just tell us not toworry, he gives us every reason
to trust.
He tells us time and time again,I've got you.
You know my name.
(24:08):
Call on me.
Don't worry about what tomorrowbrings.
Tomorrow is another day.
For today, let's just take thesesteps together.
Central God doesn't expect us tofigure it all out.
That's why he invites us to seekhim first.
When we put him above our needs,our fears, and our doubts,
everything else finds its properplace.
(24:29):
Maybe it's not the way that wesee or we think is best, but the
way that is best for his kingdomwork.
I want to end this morning witha story of a friend from Central
that puts all of her trust inJesus.
And if you were here for ourGood Friday service, you heard
her heart-wrenching story andthe trust and the worry that she
gives to Jesus.
Her name is Ashley, and sheoften is at this 10 o'clock
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service as she is today, sittingin the second row with her
husband and her family.
And her base story is made bychoices from her dark past that
had hard consequences, includingprison, including losing her
children for a short time, lossof friends, and drug charges
that would change the trajectoryof her future.
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Since then, she has gone throughtreatment, she did her time, she
paid retribution, she met andmarried an amazing man, she was
reconnected with her children,and she gave her life to Jesus.
But her past still framed whoshe was, and it had a hold on
many areas of her life thatcarried weight in this world.
We as a church have been prayingfor Ashley and her family as she
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was scheduled for a pardon thismonth, and with tears of joy
this past Wednesday, the stateof Minnesota granted Ashley a
pardon for her crimes, freeingher name from it, which is
something that looks great onpaper.
But the truth is Jesus hadalready done that for her, and
she knew that.
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She shared with me in a textmessage this week when I asked
her, Do you worry?
She said, Knowing God issovereign and in complete
control helped me face thereality that even if the pardon
was denied and wasn't in histiming, even if it wasn't in his
timing, I would still be guidedby my Lord.
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I love this.
I love her faith.
I love her trust.
She knows that her worry was andis his burden to carry, not
hers.
And she was willing to face histiming in all of it.
She knows his name central andthe weight that it carries over
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her life.
And by the grace of God, nomatter what that board decided,
no matter what the decision was,she was already free.
Friends, we may not know whattomorrow holds, but we know the
one who holds our tomorrow.
And that is where our peacebegins.
No matter what worries we carryor what storms you are facing,
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there is peace in the name andthe power of Jesus.
So as you leave this placetoday, take a deep breath.
Let go of your worries andremember how far God has brought
you and believe that He is notdone yet.
Your Heavenly Father sees you,He values you, He cares for you
(27:28):
deeply, and He died for you soyou can be free of all of your
worry.
During this next song, Iencourage you to just listen to
the words, take a man, andbelieve that His name will call
you out of your grave, no matterhow deep and no matter how
lonely it may be.
And if you believe that and youknow it to be true, I encourage
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you to take those worries thatyou wrote down earlier and
release them at the foot of thecross this morning.
Amen.
For that.
Welcome back.
I'm excited to be back and inthe office.
If you don't know who I am, myname is Sonia Knudsen.
I'm an associate here for PastorRyan and for this team.
And I have been on a sabbaticalfor the last seven and a
half-ish weeks, and it has beena blessing in so many ways.
If you don't know what asabbatical is, it's a time, a
way where you can rest andrestore and reflect and look to
(00:24):
the past, look for what you'recurrently living in, and look
also to the future.
And I did a lot of that.
I am looking to the future ofretirement in two years.
Yes.
I can't wait.
But also, this gave me a tasteof what retirement is going to
look like.
I was very excited to get backthough.
I can't tell you how much I lovemy job.
I love this team.
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I love the leadership of thisteam.
I love this body.
And it was a breath of fresh airto walk back into this place
yesterday as I prepared.
When before I left, Ryan askedme to preach this Sunday as I
come back and to give a summaryof what my sabbatical looked
like, my time away, and also toshare some pictures and some
stories of that.
So I'm going to do that on thefront end.
(01:06):
And basically, the summary of mytime away was God in my travel
time.
It was God in my friendships.
It was God in my family time.
It was God in the safety of ourtravel time and our adventures.
We spent a lot of time.
I spent a lot of time in theStates, but also we were in
Europe.
We spent time in Italy andGermany and Austria with a group
(01:26):
of friends.
So I wanted, I want to sharesome pictures of what this
looked like and some of theblessings that I had.
One week I spent with a friendnamed Joan.
She's here and a friend namedNikki.
Joan and I spent time hiking alot.
That's if you know me, I lovewalking and hiking and taking
adventures up of climbing crazymountains and doing things that
most people might not do.
(01:48):
And she is such a blessing to mylife, and she is accepting to do
any of these adventures that Iput in front of them, including
a via ferrata, which if you'renot familiar with that, means
you're like climbing straight upa mountain using cables and rods
and doing fun things.
And she's like, sure, I'll dothat.
In fact, I text her, hey, whatabout a via ferrata?
And it was like a pause.
I'm like, she's gonna say no.
(02:09):
She's gonna say no.
And she came back with a sure, Ican do that.
And then my next week was spentwith Nikki in Door County,
Wisconsin, northern part ofWisconsin.
And we kayaked Lake Michigan,and I got her to do a zip line.
And she too is not necessarilyan adventurous person, but she
was willing to take theseadventures with me, and she
loved it as well.
(02:30):
I also spent time uh with myfamily.
This is my little nuggetgranddaughter Kyrie, who turned
three on uh September 2nd.
We had her Sesame Streetbirthday party yesterday, and
that's her parents, Philip andmy grand, my daughter-in-law,
Kara.
And then I spent time with myother son.
This is Connor.
He went hiking actually with usin the Dolomites in Italy, so
that was a blast.
(02:50):
And he came back with us and hestill loves his mommy.
So, you know, life life is goodin that area.
Um, we traveled a lot.
Oh, I spend a lot of time withmy dog.
That's my husband, too, not tonot to buffer you.
That sounded terrible.
My dog got tension over.
I do love my dog, though, a lot.
He's a little schnauzer and hehikes and walks with us a lot.
But you know, my stride is quitelarge and he's got these little
(03:12):
legs.
So I did buy him a backpack, sohe walks about a mile and then
he just lays down and he's like,I'm out done.
And I throw him in the backpackand off we go and we do a couple
more miles.
That is my husband, Jeff, aswell.
And then uh with this crazygroup, that's Bob and Joan
Ruprecht, members here, um, ourgood friend Tim Barthel, my son
Connor, and my husband Jeff, wewent for 16 days to and we hike
(03:34):
the Dolomite Mountains, which isin the northern part of Italy.
And then um a group of us, asmaller group of us, went to
Germany and Austria, and we didsome sightseeing, and we we love
history and architecture, sothat was great, great fun too.
I have to say, some of myfavorite things that we did is
to venture through all of thecathedrals in Europe.
I mean, words can't even explainthe beauty of all of them.
(03:55):
And we saw castles and palaces,and we went to these stunning
little villages.
That's Rottenberg.
Is Nikki Nordmeyer here?
No.
So she was saying she knew I wasgonna go to Germany, and she's
like, you have to go seeRottenberg, and I did, and it
was amazing.
Um, and it looks just thischarming.
In fact, this city or thisvillage was saved both in World
(04:16):
War I and World War II becauseof how charming and rustic it
was.
And even the Nazis said this isthe German most German town
there is, and so they preservedit.
Even the Americans, when theycame over after the World War,
they didn't let any bombs orattacks.
The only damage this town hasever had is because of an
earthquake in Germany.
Um, and it it demolished one ofits castles, but stunning little
(04:37):
village.
We um went to the concentrationcamp in Daha, which I would
encourage any of you if you everhave a chance to do that,
because it reminds us of wherewe should never go again in our
life.
And it was asked, why did youkeep this concentration camp as
a memorial site?
So we never go back to thisplace again.
Um, we drank a lot.
That sounds terrible, but youknow, we're in Italy and we're
(05:00):
in Germany.
So you're gonna drink wine andyou're gonna drink beer.
And I don't even like beer.
And I tried the beer, and thatwas that was super fun.
And then we ate lots of funfoods.
This is a why are you laughing?
This is a schneelballin, it'sit's a snowball.
My decision of it is eh, it'sokay.
I think really it's krunkacathat that kind of fell apart,
(05:22):
and then they just rolled it upin white chocolate and chocolate
chocolate and made it a ball.
I'm like, I was so excited totry it, wasn't I, Tim and Jeff?
And I'm like, I don't know, it'sit's okay.
But I checked it off my list.
I did that.
And then, of course, we had lotsof gelata, uh, gelato because we
were in Italy.
But honestly, my favorite wasindoor county.
Um, I had an amazing gelato froma little Russian gelato shop.
(05:44):
So get that.
Um, then of course, the hiking,because that's what I do.
So from August 8th throughSeptember 24th, I know get ready
to say, oh my gosh, I hiked orwalked 458 miles.
But really, oh no, no, becausereally, if you spread that out
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over that many days, it's onlynine miles a day.
So, like, you know, but I canadd elevation into that and you
know the lack of breathingbecause we were up so high in
many of those situations.
But the mountains wereincredible in the Dolomites.
The trails were uh strenuous andchallenging for sure, but the
view it didn't matter becausethe views overtook everything.
The one thing that I loved, Ithink, the most was this is uh
(06:27):
Coldalana.
It's at the top of BloodMountain.
Um, and it was, I think, oursecond to the last hike, guys.
Last hike.
So this one was basically a ViaFerrata.
There was lots of cables, lotsof rods, very strenuous hike up
there.
And then at the top, there'sthis chapel that was built for
World War I veterans who losttheir life.
(06:48):
Um, stunning, uh, tearful forsure when we were at the top of
this mountain.
Um, and we got to see a lot ofbunkers and trenches, and it was
it was all very fascinating.
We saw a lot of cows on ourhiking, which my husband said, I
think they're mocking me becausethe one day we were going pretty
strenuous, like we would take ahundred steps and we would all
(07:08):
have to stop and breathe becausethe elevation was so high.
And here's this cow, likewalking right past us.
And Jeff's like, that's noteven, that's not even fair.
I can't even breathe at thispoint.
But it was beautiful to see, andthat's my husband.
He we thought we found a gnomeup in in the mountains, so that
was really fun.
(07:29):
Um, but my favorite time was mytime alone with God.
Uh, whether I was hiking alone,whether it was hiking with my
friends or my family, I was in,I felt like I was in constant
and Joan could vie for this.
I'm in constant conversationwith God all the time, asking
him for clarification orendurance and perseverance and
joy, even when I'm struggling alittle bit.
(07:50):
So, overall, I hope that you cansee that this trip was amazing
and um I was fully blessed.
And yet, no matter how wonderfulthis trip was, I couldn't help
but pay attention to all of thetimes that I was worrying on
this trip.
And maybe it's because I knewthis sermon was coming up and I
had to prepare for why the whyworry question.
(08:11):
We're in this series of thequestions that Jesus asked, and
I had picked why, why do weworry?
So, of course, it was fresh onmy mind.
However, I found myselflegitimately worrying for my
children who were back here inthe States, or my granddaughter.
I was worrying for my dog whowas going to be babysat by my
father-in-law, who doesn'tnecessarily love indoor dogs,
(08:32):
but they were together for 16days.
And then I worried for myfather-in-law who's watching my
dog, and then I worried who'sgoing to survive this time
between the two of them, butthey did great.
I worried for our adventures andour weathers prior to going.
Um, we had been watching theweather.
And out of the eight hiking daysthat we were supposed to have,
literally it was like 90% chanceof rain every single day.
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And we only had one day of rain.
Praise God.
That was amazing.
I worried about my friends andtheir health.
One of my dearest friends hadelevation sickness the very
first day, and we got to thesummit of that mountain, and it
was not pretty at all, like whatcame out of his body.
But he made it and we were good.
I was also worried that some ofmy friends, we not might not be
friends when we got back.
(09:14):
Because when I asked my friends,like, hey, let's do this, let's
do that.
This is sometimes the look Igot.
That's my friend Nikki.
I'm like, let's go zip lining.
She's like, What are you makingme do right now?
Trust me.
I was also worried that my son,who's 29, who uh came with us,
he was the only 20-ish personthat came.
And I'm like, is he still gonnalike me when we get back?
(09:36):
Because, you know, I'm stillmom.
I always wear my mom hatwherever I'm at.
And that could be kind ofannoying after 16 days of it.
So either way, the biggest worryI think I had was driving in
Austria and Germany.
So when we left Italy, stoplaughing.
When we when we left Italy, itwas me, my best friend Joan left
me, and I'm stuck with thesemen.
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So it's Jeff and Tim and myConnor, and I'm in this car.
I was the designated driver.
So all the way, you already knowhow to pray for me.
So I'm the designated driver.
We're not even out of the carramp, and all three of them are
barking, rah rah, rah, like, dothis, don't do that.
You're too close to the I'mlike, I became a Southern
Baptist.
I'm like, dear Jesus, I juststopped the car.
I'm like, you need to give mepatience.
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You need to shut the mouths thatare in this car right now.
You need to make me understandthe signs and how narrow the
roads are, and you need to giveus a calm and a peace.
Amen.
And it was quiet for like twominutes.
And my son said, Well, that wasfun.
Let's go.
It was great.
(10:39):
So who knew that prayer had somuch power, right?
I mean, Jesus does.
And that's why we're here thismorning with this question and
this answer.
And before we begin thismorning, how many of you got
this little piece of paper?
So if you don't, I'm gonna askthe ushers if they're out there.
If you can hear me, ushers, ifyou don't, raise your hand.
Because I would love for you tohave one of these pieces of
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paper that says things I worryabout.
Things I worry about.
And they will come up the aislesand give them out.
Because obviously, when I was onmy sabbatical, this time that
I'm supposed to be in rest andreflection and reset, I was even
finding time to worry.
So before we get into the whyquestion, why we worry, I want
you to think about the thingsthat you worry about, just
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flippantly off the top of yourhead.
What things do you worry about?
First of all, if you havechildren, you worry, right?
Right, baptism family?
You worry because you havechildren.
And it doesn't matter.
I wish I could make you feelbetter and think, oh, she'll
grow out of the worry.
She doesn't, because I haveadult children and you still
worry.
It I think it's worsepersonally.
If you have aging parents, youworry.
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If you have health concerns, youworry.
If you have a job or don't havea job, you probably spend some
time in worry.
If your relationships aresomewhat broken, you probably
spend some time worrying everyday.
If you're grocery shopping ortrying to fill your gas, your
car with gas, I would betthere's some point in your life
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that you worry.
So take a minute and eitherthink about the things that you
worry, or if you have a pen or apencil and there's pencils in
the back of the pew, I would askthat you jot down some of those
things that you worry about.
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We come to you this morning withall of these things that weigh
on our hearts and on our minds,and that consume us with worry.
And we lift to you, Pastor Ryanand his family and his stepdad
Fred.
We know that Fred is so close toending his earthly life, and we
are excited that he gets to joinyou into his eternal life.
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But this is a difficult time forthem, family, as they say
goodbye.
And so we pray for Diane andtheir extended family and
everything that they are walkingthrough.
We pray for safe travels as hecomes back here.
Pray for safety as Katie travelsto be with Ryan and the family.
We pray for the things thatconsume us, the things that are
out of our control, becausethat's what worry is often, is
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things that we are trying tocontrol and we can't.
We lift them to you and weentrust them into your hands,
knowing that you have a betterplan than what we could ever
have.
I give you this message thismorning.
I pray that there are words init that need to be set on
someone's heart and someone'smindset that will cleanse them
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from the worry and the anxietyand the fears that they live in.
That they will be able torecognize that you are bigger
than any worry that we carry.
The worries that we have hereare the worries of the world.
We entrust our worries, ourthoughts, our concerns into your
hands at this time.
Father, and we love you.
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In your name we pray.
Amen.
Well, we are starting thisseries actually three weeks ago.
We did it.
It's called This Isn'tRhetorical, and we are going
through all of the questionsthat Jesus asked in his ministry
work.
And I love that Jesus askedopen-ended questions with hows
and whys throughout his ministryto stimulate thought and to test
(14:28):
our faith, to establishrelationships and to reveal
spiritual truths of hisfollowers and those that
challenged his leadership.
And just like today's question,why worry?
The questions were not intendedto ignore reality or dismiss
legitimate concerns, but ratherthe questions were designed to
shift perspective fromhuman-centered thoughts to
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God-centered thoughts.
The question why worry comesfrom the popular Sermon on the
Mount, which is found in boththe book of Matthew that Janet
shared with us and is echoedalso in the book of Luke.
And it was asked to challengehis listeners not once, but five
times, if you heard as Janetread the story for us.
He challenges five times in justthis narrative alone.
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Worry seems to be anever-constant struggle for most
of us, doesn't it?
I shared how I worried on mypeaceful yet not so peaceful
sabbatical because of myhuman-centered thoughts and
concerns.
And think of how crazy that is.
I was on a sabbatical, a timefor rest and reflection, and yet
I worried.
(15:32):
And we all worry.
In fact, Forbes Health reportedthis past spring that over 60%
of all Americans claim to worryon a daily basis.
And America, as a culture, isthe most worried nation in our
world.
Isn't that an honor not to beproud of?
But it makes sense when youthink of our value system and
the melting pot that we live in.
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It is who we are.
We are worriers, and we are toofamiliar with the gnawing,
uneasy feeling, the sleeplessnights, and the mental replays
of the what-ifs that roll in ourheads nonstop.
Worry is a tug of war betweenfaith and fear and peace and
panic, trust and control.
And if we're being honest, manyof us are losing the battle as
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we invite worry into our livesby making our highest priority
something other than God.
And why?
Why do we worry?
It doesn't produce anythinggood, and rarely does it come to
fruition.
Penn State did a study in 2020over a lengthy period, and the
results showed that 91% of allthe worry did not come true.
(16:35):
It did not come to fruition.
Look back at that list that youjust created.
91% of that list will not cometrue.
So why are we wasting our timeworrying when it most likely
will not happen?
Not to mention it adds stress,physical strain, wrinkles, and
it is proven to make you eatmore ice cream.
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I mean, just look at my housesome days.
Worry, which is a combination ofemotion and a desire for
control, is a natural responseto life in circumstances that as
Christ followers, shouldn't weknow better than to waste our
time on it?
Don't we have the tools to avoidworrying and to give us a sense
of peace?
Isn't that what the Bible is allabout?
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Scripture is known forredirecting our worry and gives
us the confidence we need toconquer any circumstance.
And today's reading illustratesthis with images of nature as
Jesus uses birds and flowers tomake his point after warning his
listeners in the previousscripture that we can't have two
treasures, and when we do, thisis when worry sets in.
(17:40):
If you peek back at Matthew 6,verse 24, we see where the worry
question is rooted when Jesusasks the question No one can
serve two masters.
Either you will hate the one andlove the other, or you will be
devoted to one and despise theother.
You cannot serve both God andmoney because when we do, we
open ourselves to destructionand to worry.
(18:03):
And he then moves hisillustration when he says,
Therefore I tell you, do notworry.
Birds neither plant crops norharvest fields, yet they never
lack provision, because theirneeds are met by a Father who
sustains them day by day.
These creatures don't struggle,they don't worry, they don't
stockpile, they simply depend onand know that he will provide.
(18:26):
Jesus uses the birds of the airas a symbol to teach about God's
provisions and to encourage usto trust in him for our needs
rather than surrendering toworry.
And he goes on to say, Are younot more valuable than they?
implying that if God providesfor the birds, the creatures
that he has no relationshipwith, then why would he not
provide for us?
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In other words, why should weworry?
Are we blind to the track recordof God's provision?
Think of the Israeliteswandering and wandering in the
wilderness.
God sent them manna from heaven,water from a rock, and he made
sure that their clothes didn'twear.
They never earned it, but theyreceived it, yet they still
(19:07):
doubted, as often we do.
We panic over what's next whilestanding in the overflow of what
God has already done for us.
We see only what we can cling toand what is right in front of
us, which reminds me of my ViaFerrata climb with my dear
friend Joan.
This is a climb that we wereuncomfortable with, and my
friend is afraid of heights.
(19:27):
And for good reason, she wasnervous and worried about this
climb.
She clung to the rock quiteoften.
And our brilliant glide, who wasa young man, helped her through
her worries and her fears byusing words and phrases such as,
Joan, what if you pushedyourself away from the rock so
you could see what was aroundyou, what was coming next?
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Or, Joan, I see that your leftfoot is in an awkward position.
What if you took that foot back,used your right foot, and
shifted to the other ledge?
How would that feel?
Would you feel safe?
Would that feel morecomfortable?
And as I listened to hisguidance and support and
observed her finding peace andtrust in his words, I couldn't
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help but think this is Jesus inour worry when he is trying to
move us towards him.
He's saying, like to me, Sonia,what if you pushed yourself away
from the things that you worryabout, the things that you're
trying to control and youtrusted me in them?
How would that feel?
Or, Sonia, what if you shiftedyour weight and moved your steps
(20:34):
to somewhere else?
What if you moved away from yourplan and stepped into my plan?
How would that feel?
Would you feel safe?
Sounds easy, doesn't it?
But we don't do that.
Instead, we let worry take over,which then defeats our faith and
shrinks our view of God and hisabilities in our lives.
(20:55):
And in our story today, Jesuslovingly addresses that thought
and he rebukes his followerswith the phrase, you of little
faith.
Not to shame them, but to helpthem see how worry diminishes
their confidence in God.
In Matthew 6:30, Jesus points tothe grass and the flowers of the
fields, noting that they aretemporary and fragile and yet
(21:17):
clothed with beauty, and he issaying, if God gives that much
attention to things that lastonly a day, will he not provide
enough for you?
When we choose worry, we're notjust doubting God's provision.
We're placing our confidence inthe worst possible outcome,
making our problems seem biggerthan his power.
But when we live in faith, welift our eyes above the storms
(21:40):
that we wade through, and we sayand can see what Jesus' way is
in our life, and we can trustthe one who is in front of us,
which reminds me of mygranddaughter when she worries,
and we try to teach her to leaninto Jesus.
We took her to the fair thispast August, and she was so
excited to ride the carouselhorse.
(22:00):
She's three years old, and she'dbeen watching the carousel go
round and round and round.
She picked her favorite horse,which of course is white and
blue.
And when it was time for us toget on the ride, she said, Nana,
come with me.
So I did, and I lifted her up onthe horse.
And here's my Kyrie when she'sexcited.
Kyrie, are you excited?
So she's holding onto the pole,and the carousel ride starts and
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it goes down and it's going backup and it's shaking kind of
funny.
And as it's going back up, itmade the screeching sound.
She's like, All done.
Like she wanted nothing to dowith this horse.
I'm like, oh girl, we're notgetting off the carousel horse.
They're not stopping it for us.
I said, you know what?
You look scared and worried.
Nana's gonna help you with this.
(22:42):
Put her fingers back on thepole.
I put my hand over her.
I said, shut your little eyesand let's pray.
And together we said, DearJesus, and she's like, Dear
Jesus, make this ride gosmoothly.
Let her find joy in this ride.
And let her trust you and everymovement the horse makes.
And before we knew it, the ridewas done.
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She jumped off the horse and shesaid, That silly horse.
Her mama asked her, You lookedworried on that ride.
Was everything okay?
What helped you?
She just kept strutting awaybecause she has all attitude.
Jesus, that's all she needed tosay.
In the moment, Kyrie could notsee the way through her worry,
but she trusted the one who didthrough prayer and the power of
(23:26):
his name.
And she was calm.
Ah, the faith of a child.
Amen.
And friends, when we seek himfirst and we call out his name,
we too are drawn to the commonsense of our faith, and our
storms are calmed as well, whichis described in our scripture
next when Jesus says, Seek firsthis kingdom and his
righteousness, and all thesethings will be given to you as
(23:47):
well.
Therefore, do not worry abouttomorrow, for tomorrow will
worry about itself.
Each day has enough trouble ofits own.
Jesus, in his love and hiswisdom, offers us a better way.
He doesn't just tell us not toworry, he gives us every reason
to trust.
He tells us time and time again,I've got you.
You know my name.
(24:08):
Call on me.
Don't worry about what tomorrowbrings.
Tomorrow is another day.
For today, let's just take thesesteps together.
Central God doesn't expect us tofigure it all out.
That's why he invites us to seekhim first.
When we put him above our needs,our fears, and our doubts,
everything else finds its properplace.
(24:29):
Maybe it's not the way that wesee or we think is best, but the
way that is best for his kingdomwork.
I want to end this morning witha story of a friend from Central
that puts all of her trust inJesus.
And if you were here for ourGood Friday service, you heard
her heart-wrenching story andthe trust and the worry that she
gives to Jesus.
Her name is Ashley, and sheoften is at this 10 o'clock
(24:53):
service as she is today, sittingin the second row with her
husband and her family.
And her base story is made bychoices from her dark past that
had hard consequences, includingprison, including losing her
children for a short time, lossof friends, and drug charges
that would change the trajectoryof her future.
(25:13):
Since then, she has gone throughtreatment, she did her time, she
paid retribution, she met andmarried an amazing man, she was
reconnected with her children,and she gave her life to Jesus.
But her past still framed whoshe was, and it had a hold on
many areas of her life thatcarried weight in this world.
We as a church have been prayingfor Ashley and her family as she
(25:35):
was scheduled for a pardon thismonth, and with tears of joy
this past Wednesday, the stateof Minnesota granted Ashley a
pardon for her crimes, freeingher name from it, which is
something that looks great onpaper.
But the truth is Jesus hadalready done that for her, and
she knew that.
(25:58):
She shared with me in a textmessage this week when I asked
her, Do you worry?
She said, Knowing God issovereign and in complete
control helped me face thereality that even if the pardon
was denied and wasn't in histiming, even if it wasn't in his
timing, I would still be guidedby my Lord.
(26:21):
I love this.
I love her faith.
I love her trust.
She knows that her worry was andis his burden to carry, not
hers.
And she was willing to face histiming in all of it.
She knows his name central andthe weight that it carries over
(26:42):
her life.
And by the grace of God, nomatter what that board decided,
no matter what the decision was,she was already free.
Friends, we may not know whattomorrow holds, but we know the
one who holds our tomorrow.
And that is where our peacebegins.
No matter what worries we carryor what storms you are facing,
(27:03):
there is peace in the name andthe power of Jesus.
So as you leave this placetoday, take a deep breath.
Let go of your worries andremember how far God has brought
you and believe that He is notdone yet.
Your Heavenly Father sees you,He values you, He cares for you
(27:28):
deeply, and He died for you soyou can be free of all of your
worry.
During this next song, Iencourage you to just listen to
the words, take a man, andbelieve that His name will call
you out of your grave, no matterhow deep and no matter how
lonely it may be.
And if you believe that and youknow it to be true, I encourage
(27:52):
you to take those worries thatyou wrote down earlier and
release them at the foot of thecross this morning.
Amen.
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