Category Archives: sermon podcasts

I Did It My Way: Back to School Sermon

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I was talking to Josh, an elementary teacher, this week. I asked him, “How much time do you have influencing students? Don’t include recess. Do include assignments.” He said, about 8 to 8 ½ hours per day.

backtoschoolDo the math on that. 8 hours X 180 days = 1,440 hours of influence in a day. That’s a chunk of time.

School is a powerful influence in anyone’s life.

If that teacher is Josh, who treats people with respect and who knows Jesus, that’s time well spent. If that teacher is cynical, atheistic, or misanthropic, that’s problematic.

We are really blessed, in Clearfield County, to have a great bunch of teachers and good school systems. And we, as a nation, are blessed with great tech schools, colleges, and universities. But that doesn’t diminish the need for students to be prepared for what’s ahead — whether in high school or college.

School always comes with pressures to conform, to fit in, and to concur with ideologies that you might not naturally agree with.

This podcast talks about being yourself in school

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PODCAST: Living Above Your Nature at School

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Back to School Sermon Presented August 19, 2012 at Curwensville Alliance

Just last year, Austin Smith, a 15-year-old from Michigan, was bleeding the brakes on a 1991 Buick Century with his grandfather.

muscleWhile Austin was inside the car pumping the pedal, the vehicle shifted and after he got out, it fell off the blocks, pinning Grandpa Ernie under 2,000 pounds of steel.

As he tells the story, Austin says, “I was just so scared. I didn’t know what to do.” So Austin grabbed the car by its front bumper and lifted. He lifted it high enough that his grandpa could crawl out.

How did he do that? Huey Lewis might say, “That’s the power of love.” We all know it’s adrenaline. When you are in that kind of situation, sometimes, your body can do things that aren’t humanly possible. Or at least not ordinarily humanly possible.

Austin was living above his natural abilities — empowered to do something he could not naturally hope to do. God does that for Christians — empowers us to live above our nature.

This podcast suggests that you can do that as you head to school this fall.

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Deprogramming for Emotional and Spiritual Health

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Smartphones have apps on them — computer programs that accomplish tasks and effect performance. Any app that is on the phone changes the phone — some for the better, some for the worse.

Materialism App

We’re like that phone. We live in a world system that offers us apps that influence us. In fact, whether we install the apps into our lives or not, we can’t deny their influence. Perhaps some of the apps come bundled into our lives as the sinful nature. Others are ones that come without warning. Still, others, are ones we foolishly install without first determining how safe they really are.

This podcast suggest three apps we might have in our lives that, if we are going to be emotionally and spiritually healthy, must be removed.

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