Category Archives: sermon podcasts

Dealing with Dilemmas

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You know what a dilemma is, right? It’s when you are caught between two options and you must make a choice. If you choose the first option, it will cause a problem. And if you choose the second option, it will cause a different problem.

People face dilemmas all the time.

Let me give you an example: You want to take your son hunting. He’s finally old enough. It’s kind of a father-son bonding time. He’s using his grandpa’s gun. You bought him the license. He’s really excited. But your aunt Mabel died yesterday. And while the viewing is Sunday evening, the funeral service is Monday morning — the opening day of buck season. That’s a dilemma. What do you do? Do you let down your son by skimping on the hunt? Or do you let your uncle down by skipping your aunt’s funeral. No one likes to be on the horns of a dilemma.

A more serious dilemma would have been on the mind of some young men in Nazi Germany in the time of Adolph Hitler. On one hand, you want to be a patriot. And Germany is economically devastated. Plus, if you refuse to fight, it will be your neck! On the other hand, you know the Nazis are committing atrocities. You’ve seen the ghettos. You’ve heard the stories. Can you defend a government that is so evil? It’s a dilemma. What do you do?

No one likes to be caught on the horns of a dilemma. I always want the third alternative. But often, there is none.

This podcast speaks about Joseph of Arimathea’s choices and ours as well.

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How to have a relationship with God

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How close are you to people you love? Laurel and I have been married for 29 years. That’s a while. And she and I would both honestly say to you that we’ve had our ups and downs. Some of the best years were when we lived in campus housing, went to school, and worked in the evenings. We…

  • Sat in classes together.
  • Ate lunch together.
  • Worked on projects together.
  • Rode motorcycle together.
  • Shared notes together.

Those were good years.

When I entered ministry, everything changed. Suddenly…

  • I was writing sermons — by myself.
  • She was preparing Sunday School lessons — by herself.
  • I was doing counseling — by myself.
  • She was preparing music — by herself.
  • I was making hospital visits — by myself.

And without even seeing it, we were slowly becoming strangers.

When children came along, the distance between us fluctuated. Sometimes we were close. Sometimes we were not. In fact, both of us realized that unless we did something about it, we ran the risk of becoming strangers who lived together.

It was then that Laurel and I decided to make our relationship a priority. We began to set aside time for one another. Once a week we went somewhere where our ministries, our children, and our external demands could not interfere. For a while, that was a coffee shop in Clearfield. She was not allowed to take a book. I was not allowed to take a computer. She was not allowed to take her schedule. I was not allowed to take my PDA.

We have found, in these 29 years, that if we don’t take the initiative to be close, we will not be close.

Today, I want to suggest that the very same thing can happen with you and God.

This podcast helps you see how to stay close to God.

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Am I Hurting Myself without Realizing I Am?

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Presented October 9, 2011

Have you heard the expression, “That’s like cutting off your nose to spite your face”? You don’t hear it often, but you observe it frequently. I can give you three real-life examples.

A worker is angry with the company because they keep laying people off. Some of his best friends have lost their jobs because the corporation can’t make a profit. And he’s angry. So he decides to become lazy. He avoids doing routine maintenance on machinery. He pushes products that are defective down the line so they go out to the consumer, knowing that it will damage the company’s reputation and decrease their market share. He leaves early, getting someone else to punch him out. You know what this will mean, right? It will mean the company will have to lay off more workers — the very thing he hates. In his anger, he’s cutting off his own nose to get even with his face.

Or what about the husband is angry that his wife spent twice the money at Old Navy that he thought she should have. After all, they are saving for a vacation. So, to get revenge on her, he goes out and spends money on things he doesn’t even really want. A moose-call from Grices, though he has no plan to hunt moose. A new laptop, even though he hardly uses computers. A subscription to Consumer Reports magazine, though he won’t take time to read it. In his revenge, he’s cutting off his nose to get even with his face.

Or how about this one? A woman is angry with God because God’s not lived up to her expectations. God has not done what she wanted him to do in her marriage and with her boys. God has been speaking to her about her sin and she doesn’t like to hear that. So, to get back at God, she enters into a life that she knows would make God angry. And in the process, she risks everything – waking up morning after morning, wondering if she has AIDS. In her effort to get even with God, she’s damaging herself. She is cutting off her nose to spite her face.

People do this all the time.

In the life of Jesus, the people who needed him most injured themselves by attempting to injure him. They display this behavior throughout the gospels. They show it in living color today in our text. They cut off their noses to spite their faces.

Sometimes we do the same thing. This podcast addresses this tendency and helps us avoid it.

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