preview

A Barn Fool

Share to

3 August, 2025Pastor John Strelan

Sermon Pastor John Strelan Sunday 3 August 2025 A Barn Fool.pdf
39 Proper 13 C

Him needs to buy carrots. Gertrude wrote a letter to she.That pencil is me.

Can you work out what’s wrong with those sentences? Well done. They don’t contain the right pronouns. I’m sure you don’t usually think much about pronouns, but there are a whole bunch of them we use all the time. In fact, there are nine common types of pronouns:

personal pronouns – replace the names of people or things

demonstrative pronouns – point out specific things              

interrogative pronouns – used to ask questions                    

relative pronouns – introduce a dependent clause                

indefinite pronouns – refer to nonspecific things                         

possessive pronouns – show ownership                                              

reflexive pronouns – used when the subject and the object are the same                                                                                        

intensive pronouns – emphasize a noun                                              

reciprocal pronouns – indicate a mutual relationship or action

So, why this lesson on pronouns? Well, simply because knowing the right pronoun can sometimes be a matter of life and death.   

 

Luke 12:13-21

13 Someone in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.’ 14 Jesus replied, ‘Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?’ 15 Then he said to them, ‘Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.’ 16 And he told them this parable: ‘The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, “What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.” 18 ‘Then he said, “This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, ‘You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.’” 20 ‘But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?” 21 ‘This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich towards God.’

More From 'Sermons'

Shameless Prayer

27 July, 2025 Pastor John Strelan

There’s no doubt about it, Jesus prayed a lot. And, he encouraged his disciples to pray a lot. I wonder what they were thinking when they asked Jesus to teach them to pray as John taught his disciples? What were they expecting? Were they expecting a formula? A checklist? A manual? A pattern? A fool-proof method? A result?

What do you expect when you pray?

View

The Gift of Presence

20 July, 2025 Pastor John Strelan

Apparently the average Australian checks their phone 60 times a day and spends nearly 6 hours every day looking at it.

It makes me wonder if Jesus had chosen to visit Martha and Mary today whether Luke would have recorded the visit something like this: Jesus and his disciples entered a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by the alerts on her phone and the latest memes. Well, there was also the catering to organize on-line, and all those emails, they don’t just answer themselves you know! Martha said to Jesus, “Lord do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? She’s even ghosting me. Tell her to help me”. Jesus answered her, “Martha, Martha, the average Australian spends 6 hours a day on their phone, and you are well above average. Why not put it on Airplane Mode for a while and fly with me instead?

By my reckoning, 6 hours a day is 42 hours a week, is 3 months of the year! That’s a big hunk of life.

View

God's Dog?

13 July, 2025 Pastor John Strelan

A middle-aged woman has a heart attack and it leads to a near death experience while she’s on the operating table. She finds herself standing in front of God so she asks: “Is this it?”

God says: “Oh no. You have another 30-40 years to live.”

When she recovers she decides to stay in the hospital and have a face lift, some liposuction, a breast augmentation, tummy tuck and have her hair dyed. She figures since she’s got another 30 or 40 years she might as well make the most of it. She walks out of the hospital after the last operation and immediately gets hit by an ambulance.

She arrives in front of God again and says: “I thought you said I had another 30 or 40 years?”

God replies: “Is that you Shirley? Sorry, I didn’t recognise you!”

Okay, so it’s a pretty ordinary joke with very dodgy theology. But, it gets me thinking. What if we swap things around? If we are made in the image of God as the Bible says we are, when people see us do they recognise God?

View
View All