Tag Archives: sermon podcasts

What does the Bible say about sex outside of marriage?

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PRESENTED 9/30/2012

In my last pastorate, I was often a guest speaker in a sociology class at the University of Pittsburgh. The professor had me address specific ways our church worked to influence society. Naturally, I jumped at the chance.

One time, after class, a young woman came to me and said, “I stopped going to church because of something my pastor said to us.” I asked what the pastor had said. “He told my boyfriend and me that we should not be having sex — that the Bible said that it was sin to have sex outside of marriage. It doesn’t say that!”

Hmm…. Does it?

This podcast presents a biblical perspective on sex inside and outside of marriage.

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How do I find meaning in life?

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In St. Marys, GA, there is an old cemetery that Laurel and I have walked through to pass the time while on vacation. Many of the tombstones communicate how the deceased wanted to be remembered. Some have boats. Some have fish. One has an airplane.

In our thinking, the most interesting of these tombstones is pictured here, shaped like a smiley. It turns out that it is on the grave of someone who is remembered for working at Walmart. That may seem silly to you, wanting to be remembered for working at Walmart, but I want to suggest that in the face of eternity a Walmart smiley on a tombstone is no less significant and meaningful than a carving of a sailboat.

For what will you be remembered?

This podcast speaks of a woman who made her life memorable. From her example we can learn more about what’s important and ways we can make our own lives meaningful.

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How to Stop Blaming Others…

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Years ago, there was a commercial for some laundry detergent that had a woman trying to get rid of the ring around the collar of her husband’s shirt. You saw the wife holding the shirt in her hand and hearing the voice chanting, Ring around the collar!

The narrator pointed out a distressed wife trying and trying to get the stains out as he says: You’ve tried scrubbing them out and soaking them out and you still get RING AROUND THE COLLAR! In the commercial, the ring around the collar was seen as telltale evidence of her failure.

What the ad never addressed was the obvious question: “Why didn’t that guy wash his neck?”

All of us have a tendency to fall into the pitfall of blaming others. Not blame for ring around the collar. But blame concerning the mistakes you commit in your life.

So let’s just clear the air. For many of the troubles you face in life, there’s no one to blame but yourself. Now that’s not true for everything. But for many things that is the case.

This podcast  addresses the tendency we all have to play the blame game as we struggle with The Pitfall of Blaming.

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