Category Archives: sermon podcasts

How to Get Back on Track…

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Did you have a model railroad set when you were a kid?

When I was a little boy my parents bought me a railroad set. It was neat to put the track together and see the train go around the figure eight — over the train trestles that came in the box. One of the most frustrating things about a model train is how easy it is for it to become derailed. It’s easy for it to get off the track.

In that way, a model train is a lot like human beings. It’s easy for us to get off track. Even Christians have trouble staying on the tracks that Jesus laid down for his followers. Let me give you a couple examples: The Spanish Inquisition. The Crusades. Neither of those embody true Christianity. They are examples of a people – people who professed to follow Jesus — getting off track. OK — that’s an understatement. They are examples of complete derailments of Christianity. Total train-wrecks.

We can say with certainty that these kinds of things are not in keeping with Jesus’ teaching and example. And you can find evidence for that many places — including our text today. We pick up the story in verse 50, where Judas is standing before Jesus, ready to betray him.

This podcast examines Jesus’ behavior in the Garden of Gethsemane — at his arrest — and helps us stay on track with what he desires.

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How do I stop regretting my past?

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Magnificence. What comes to mind when you hear that word? Webster does little to do the word justice. It defines magnificence with words like splendor.

OK. But what is truly magnificent?

If you like Westerns, you are surely familiar with The Magnificent Seven. Yul Brynner, Eli Wallach, Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn, Charles Bronson, James Coburn — all carrying guns! It’s hard to get more magnificent than that!

Every Father’s day, I think of my dad. So in that sense, Father’s day is no different than any other day in my life. Even though he’s been dead almost a decade, I think of him every day. When I think of my dad these days, I think he was magnificent.

It’s like that with Pennsylvania. When I was in grade-school, our family took a trip and crossed the United States with a truck camper. I saw the Rocky Mountains, the Redwood Forest, the Grand Canyon. Colorado, California beaches. When we returned home, my mother, who was about the age I am now, said, “I don’t think there is anything prettier than these hills of Pennsylvania on a summer’s day.” I thought she was out of her mind. But I caught myself saying the same thing this past week. When I look at these Penn’s Woods, I think they are magnificent.

But there is something more magnificent than any of these things. It’s found in the story of Peter’s denial.

This podcast speaks of the magnificence of God’s grace, helping us overcome our own failures.

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How do I stop being so cynical?

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So recently I heard that Phil died. You didn’t know Phil, but I did. He was a pretender.

Phil came to church and pretended to be interested in order to get his wife to be a little friendlier with him. The only time Phil prayed was when the Pastor came to visit. He’d have the whole family hold hands at the table and pray together. Occasionally Phil would round up the clan and tell the he wanted them to be in church every Sunday. That lasted about a week. I say that Phil was a pretender because he was. Even those times he’d spend Sunday morning in church, Phil spent Saturday evening getting drunk. Phil had his picture in the paper for dealing drugs. And frequently, Phil’s wife would talk about his cheating and trashing the house if she objected.

So when Phil died and I read his obituary, I wanted to throw up. It said that Phil had led a life of great faith in God, that he loved God and served Him. I have to say that when I read things like that, it feeds something within me that is not healthy. It feeds my cynicism.

I struggle with cynicism. I’m not just a pessimist. A pessimist has a tendency to always expect the worst. Not just a skeptic. A skeptic has trouble believing anything good. I struggle with cynicism.

A cynic believes all people are motivated by selfishness. The outlook of a cynic is generally scornful and negative. Even if someone comes to faith in Christ and has changed, the cynic still struggles to believe it’s real. It’s not a good thing to be a cynic.

This podcast addresses the pitfall of cynicism and gives you some ladder rungs to climb to break free.

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