Willingdon Church Podcast

Pastor Ray, Pastor Brett and Shylo dig into Daniel 3, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace! We did a switcharoo this week with Pastor Brett preaching on Daniel 3, and Pastor Ray on Chapter 4 and then switching again for next week. If you have any questions for Daniel 4, write in to ask@willingdon.org, and we'll answer them on the pod in 7 days! 00:00 Intro 03:06 Engaging with cultur...

Daniel chapter 3 is one of those stories that you might think you already know, but I think the real questions here are much bigger than how three guys survive a fiery furnace. The Demand for Allegiance  The Freedom of Faith  Finding God in the Fire Reflection Questions: What are you afraid to lose? Why?  Where are you feeling pressure to compromise? How does knowing Jesus is with you change that?

We're back, did you miss us? We're happy to announce that we're bringing back the Podcast, now with video! You can still find us on Spotify, Apple and other audio platforms, but if YouTube is your preferred option, we're on there too! Today, Pastor Brian, Pastor Ray and Pastor Brett walk through the end of Daniel 2, touching on the topics of sacrifice, trusting our leaders and what Daniel is sayin...

What keeps you awake at night?  For me, it’s my children, grandchildren, finances, church family, ministries, elections, the rapid development of artificial intelligence, etc.  Where is this world going?  Can anyone foresee what will happen?  Can anyone help? What keeps you awake at night? Through Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, the God of heaven and earth speaks to at least three individuals or groups: (...

Daniel and his friends find themselves facing life and death. The king needs help, and none of his wise men can do it. Human cunning and wisdom are failing, and the gods aren't helping either. What will happen? Reflection Questions:  Where are you finding wisdom for living?  Do you expect God to show up in your need? Why or why not?  Who in your life might need you to bring God into their situatio...

Every person faces pressure to find their way in a new school, a new job, or a new culture. This process of conforming to the community around us is called assimilation: “a process where individuals or minority groups adopt the ways, language, and customs of a dominant culture, often losing distinct aspects of their original heritage.” There are at least five pressure points: Language (verbal and...

When we enter a new school year, we are filled with expectancy. Will I like my new class? Will I connect with the teacher? Will I make the soccer team? Will I have a role in the school play? If we’re off to university, our anticipation is taken to a new level. How will I adjust to the larger campus environment? Will I find the workload overwhelming? Will I have the discipline to finish my assignme...

Have you heard of the shortest play in world drama? Samuel Beckett was an Irish playwright, novelist, and poet. Guinness World Records acknowledges his play, entitled “Breath”, to be the shortest play in world drama. It lasts about 35 seconds. As the curtain opens, you see a stage littered with rubbish. A single light illuminates it. There are no actors and no words. The first thing you hear is a...

Life can be full of joy, but can also be overshadowed by the end of our story. Yet today matters specifically because tomorrow is coming. Remembering God in the midst of every day living allows us to rest in Him and enjoy the life we were made to live. Rejoice in the good gifts of life. Remember the God who gave us life. Rest in the God who holds on to us.

We’re nearing the end of 2026. As you look back on this year, have things gone the way you planned? Did your efforts give you the results you wanted? Chances are, many of our outcomes were not what we anticipated. Although we sometimes feel like we’re in control and know the future, life’s unpredictability can often leave us wondering what to do.  How do we live with certainty in an uncertain worl...

What do we do when life doesn’t happen as we expect it to?   Sometimes we think that if we’re just fast enough, strong enough, and smart enough, we’ll be able to manage our future and avoid the pitfalls of our “times.” But the Preacher says, “time and chance happen to them all. For man does not know his time.” In our passage, the Preacher does not deny God’s sovereignty but writes from the perspec...

How do you know whether or not God loves you?  How do you evaluate that? Because KNOWING something to be true, and FEELING secure in the truth of what you know, are not always the same thing.  Life has peaks and valleys, and it’s easy to talk about God’s love toward us when we are standing on the peak of life, enjoying the view from the top, but when you’re in the midst of the valley and the fog o...

As the pinnacle of God’s creation order, we humans are uniquely positioned in the world to rule and reign as His subjects; yet, because of the Fall we do it imperfectly. This leaves us feeling frustrated at so much we don’t understand, and to the point that we often doubt that God is at work. In this “aside” within Ecclesiastes, the reader is confronted with the reality of not being able to know e...

We are constantly striving to make sense of life and secure our hearts' deepest longings through our morality, our goodness, our pursuit of wisdom. Yet in Ecclesiastes we are met with the uncomfortable reality: even our best schemes leave us wanting. What hope do we have when we come face to face with our insufficiencies? Our scheme of moralism Our scheme of goodness Our scheme of wisdom Our salva...

Have you found yourself in a complex situation, where things did not appear to be right (a bit crooked), and your friend asked you what you were going to do, and you just shook your head and answered, “Who knows?” Is there biblical wisdom for situations where you just don’t know what to do next? In this life, under the sun, we all have pleasant moments – when life is just gliding along fabulously...

One of the great delusions of our day is that we think we can alter the shape of reality.  Sadly, for us, reality is a solid rock!  We can’t change it or move through it.  We can choose to adjust to the reality of the solid rock or crash into it, even though a lighthouse may be flashing warning signals throughout our life journey. The reality is that we were created by God to worship Him alone, be...

My heart and mind are full of so many things. Distractions. Dreams. Worries. Demands. Ideas. Joys. Busy thoughts. The things of life: Laundry, dishes, oil changes, emails, text messages, transporting children, parenting, planning meals, a full-time job, a good dose of sitting in traffic, health concerns, wondering about the future, occasional doomscrolling on Youtube. Lots of times, my brain is pr...

In seasons of severe suffering, we experience life at the extremities. We have mountaintop moments where we see farther and more clearly than ever before. We have days where we can say with full conviction, “God has made everything is beautiful in its time. I have eternity in my heart. I know God is sovereignly accomplishing his purposes. I can rest in Him.” And then there are deep valley moments...

Can you step back, look at the past year, and say, “Thank you, God. This was beautiful”? In 1965, the folk-rock band the Byrds recorded Pete Seeger’s "Turn! Turn! Turn! To Everything There is a Season”. The lyrics of the song follow the Preacher’s most famous poem, found here in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, almost word for word. The song topped the Billboard charts and became an anthem of the 1960s peace m...

Life is full and we give ourselves to so many people, pursuits, and passions. In the end, though, we know we will pass on and everything will be taken from us. How can we learn to enjoy and value the days we have? How does enjoying God change the joy we have in this life? Wisdom can’t secure you. Works can’t secure you. God can secure you. Reflection Questions What pursuits are stealing your joy?...

What am I supposed to do with my life? What’s the whole point of living anyway? These are the big questions of life raised by the author of Ecclesiastes. But his quest to find answers left him frustrated and disillusioned – he calls it an unhappy business that God has assigned to humanity. This was bound to be the case because his was a research project conducted ‘under the sun’ – an exploration m...

Arthur Brooks, in his new book, The Meaning of Your Life , argues that meaning has collapsed for many today. He writes, “If your life feels meaningless, you will be disengaged and unable to deal effectively with your problems. You will almost certainly be depressed and anxious. Your life will have a void to it.” You may try the salve of therapy or try to distract yourself with scrolling, gaming, a...

Silas, Pastor Ray and Pastor Brett chat about Pentecost, the Tower of Babel and the Holy Spirit! We're taking a break for our Summer Series, but please email us at ask@willingdon.org for any questions you have during the summer.  00:00 Intro 00:52 Babel or Babel 02:25 Sermon Summary 14:42 Feat of Weeks 17:25 Gathered worship before Pentecost 19:59 Does every Human have the Holy Spirit? 32:07 Well...

In spring, we love the longer days, but we can’t wait for the warmer temperatures of summer.  And then, when it gets hot and dry in summer, we can’t wait for rainfall. In the fall, we can’t wait for the first snowfall (ski season is around the corner). Then we can’t wait for Christmas. And on it goes. When we think of relationships, if we want to marry, we look forward to meeting that special part...

Silas is joined by Pastor Brody and Pastor Richard as we finish off 1st Corinthians and answer your questions. We originally started this podcast at the start of the book, during our In-House Conversation series, and now we're here! If you have any input for us, let us know, and keep sending in your questions to ask@wilingdon.org.   00:00 Intro 01:15 Sermon Summary 03:33 Inconvenient Relationships...