Category Archives: sermon podcasts

Overcoming Our Own Stubbornness…

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Human beings tend to resist lots of things.

For example, some people resist wearing seatbelts. They resist it in spite of statistics that say it’s the wise thing to do. They resist even though “It’s the law.” Ivan Segedin was very resistant to wearing a seatbelt. Ivan took his resistance to an extreme. The police had ticketed him 32 times over five years for failing to use his seat belt. Even though this was costing him big money, Ivan refused to buckle up. Finally, instead of obeying the law, he decided to rely on deception. He made a fake seat belt that would hang over his shoulder and make it appear that he was wearing a seat belt when he was not. His trick worked for a while. Then, he had a head-on collision. You know the rest of the story, right?  He was thrown forward onto the steering wheel and killed.

Discussing the accident, the coroner described the fake seat belt with these words: “Though his car was fitted with seat belts, an extra belt with a long strap had been knotted above the seat belt on the driver’s side, providing a belt to simply sit over the driver’s shoulder.” Resistance, in Ivan’s case, was futile. Worse – his resistance was fatal.

In our passage today, Jesus addresses the resistance each of us has in reference to him. Click play below to listen to the message.

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Emerging from Faith-Struggles — Victoriously…

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Growing up on a farm, I’ve used a pitchfork many times. We had some forks that had tines missing, and they were of almost no value at all. You can imagine that a one pronged pitch fork is useless. A two-pronged one is just frustrating to use. If you want a fork that works, it needs to be at least three-pronged.

In Matthew 11, God gives us a three-pronged tool to make it through faith-struggles, victoriously. And although it’s not a pitch-fork, you need all three tines — all three prongs — of the tool. If you’re missing one, your faith will be in jeopardy.

The prongs? Know your Bible. Look for God’s work in your life.  Let God be in charge.

This message gives more instuction on how this tool helps you through faith-struggles.

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Who was that crazy woman?

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At about 45 years of age, she wore clothes that were beyond trendy. They looked like clothes teens might wear in music videos, although MTV was still 10 years away.  Her hair was a sight to behold —  jet black against her snow-white skin, it was startling enough, but what really made it remarkable was how she stacked it up on her head, making her four to eight inches taller than she was without it.

We used to say that she played the organ like I would imagine Captain Nemo playing in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Weaving back and forth dramatically.  She played well, and her flamboyant display was captivating at least and entertaining at best.

Somewhere along the way she sensed a call to serve God by teaching the teen Sunday School class — my teen Sunday School class.  She taught us about music, training us to discern when we listened to artists. She taught us to welcome people by welcoming us into her home, for a Christmas youth fellowship. She corrected us when we treated others poorly and she encouraged us when she played volleyball with us.

We were blessed because of her service to the Lord.  I am glad she didn’t miss her calling.

The following sermon speaks of how important it is for you and me not to miss our calling.

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