Pastor Andy · 02 August 2026
Sermon — "Momentum Out of Depression and Oppression"
Drawing from Colossians 1:27, Isaiah 61:1-3, Psalm 34:17-19, Psalm 30:5, 2 Corinthians 4:8-10, Romans 8:37-39, Matthew 6:33, John 6:35, John 8:36, 2 Timothy 1:7, and Malachi 3:10, the key themes were:
Depression and oppression are real attacks — the pastor opened with a pastoral observation: people who love God, love the Word, love the Holy Spirit, and love everything about God suddenly lose their joy, their smile, their love, their sense of humour. Something has come and taken it from them. This is not a lack of faith — it is a genuine attack. The Holy Spirit said to the pastor during the week: "Momentum is something caught, not taught." You cannot teach people momentum — they must catch the heart of God.
Christ in you is the hope of glory — from Colossians 1:27: "Christ in you, the hope of glory." This truth must be lived and declared, not just known. The pastor challenged: if the Spirit of the Lord is upon you, then no spirit of heaviness and no spirit of depression has the right to remain. Begin to proclaim: "The spirit of the Lord is upon me. No spirit of doubt, no spirit of heaviness can come upon me."
The Spirit of the Lord sets captives free — from Isaiah 61:1-3, the Spirit of the Lord is anointed to preach good tidings to the poor, heal the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to the captives, and give the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. When the Spirit of the Lord is upon you, there cannot simultaneously be a spirit of heaviness and depression.
God is near to the broken-hearted — from Psalm 34:17-19: "The righteous cry out and the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart." A broken heart is not weakness — it is a heart that says: "In myself, I can't do it. I want to humble myself before you, Lord, and say — won't you just help me?" The pastor recalled the value of old church altars where people would kneel and lay before God, not speaking — simply emptying themselves before Him. At the place of emptying, God can fill you.
Weeping may endure for a night — from Psalm 30:5: "For His anger is but for a moment, His favour is for life. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning." There is a moment of heartache. There is a moment that can pull you down. But God's correction is brief because of His grace — He loves you and wants to help you change.
Mind patterns oppose God's promises — the pastor taught that many thought patterns are human-made — "I grew up that way, I heard it that way, I understand it that way" — and these directly oppose the Word of God. From 2 Corinthians 4:8-10: "We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed. We are perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed — always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body." The pastor challenged: can anything you go through be equivalent to the crucifixion? You are hard-pressed but not crushed.
Depression comes from self-centredness — when it is all about me and there is no room for the Spirit of God and the life of Christ, we become stale bread. God is a jealous
God — not just about what we are doing, but about what we are not doing because we are serving a principality of opposition. The moment we shift from self-focus to God-focus, things change.
Nothing can separate us from the love of God — from Romans 8:37-39: "Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." This is a statement — take it and declare it. There is no darkness, no principality, no power that can make God forget about you.
Put Him first — from Matthew 6:33: "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." When I put Him first, I will see major changes. The moment I understand that everything in the house of God is about God and not about man — not about comfort, not about soft chairs, not about what suits me — then the presence of God can move.
Being free means handing over to Jesus — from John 8:36: "Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed." The pastor shared a personal business testimony: when he opened a butcher shop in Waterfall, he handed the business over to Jesus — literally said "Lord, this is your business" — and they experienced two and a half years of great success. When the owner then built a pig enclosure directly in front of the shop, instead of shouting and swearing, he went to God and asked: "Lord, what do we do now?" God said: "Get out. Pack your bags." He obeyed. The lesson: when you hand something over to God, don't take it back.
God has not given a spirit of fear — from 2 Timothy 1:7: "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." The pastor shared personally about nights of anxiety when it felt like worms crawling on his chest — unable to sleep between midnight and 3am. He challenged: instead of a pity party, call on God and say: "This fear is not in Your Word. I'm not made to carry this fear. God, move it away from me in the name of Jesus."
Keep tithing covenants with God — from Malachi 3:10, the pastor made a sobering challenge: if you made an agreement with God to give the first fruits and you ate it, God says you owe Him. A covenant with God is not to be broken. He shared a story of overhearing a church elder telling a pastor to keep back some of the guest preacher's honorarium — and how he told them to keep the money entirely because the heart behind the withholding had already broken a covenant before God.
Practice living above, not beneath — the pastor closed with a practical challenge: practice every day to stay above in Christ, not beneath in darkness. When a wrong thought comes — even one that sounds right but is not of God — practice saying: "Get behind me, Satan. This is not the Word of God." The more you practice, the more perfect you become. We are not operating from feeling — we are operating from what the Word says.