What do you do when the season starts with loss, uncertainty, and a backup plan you never expected to need?

In 1999, the St. Louis Rams lost their starting quarterback before the season even began. A grocery-store-stockroom-turned-NFL-unknown named Kurt Warner stepped in. Alongside a roster of overlooked players, the Rams weren’t supposed to be anything special. Instead, they became The Greatest Show on Turf.

But the real moment came in the playoffs.

Down by three at halftime, their coach looked at the team and said, “We took their best shot - and they didn’t knock us out. Now go be who we really are.”

That line became the spark.

In this episode, we connect that moment to our own lives = those seasons where it feels like the enemy is winning, the momentum is gone, and hope feels thin. And yet, the truth remains: if you’re in Christ, you are not defeated. You are a beloved son. A redeemed daughter. Chosen. Covered. Still standing.

Sometimes you’re down three at halftime.
That doesn’t mean the story is over.

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This week’s episode comes from a story Richard shared about an unexpected message from his seventh-grade son, Bryce. A simple school assignment, from a substitute teacher no less, required Bryce to reach out to someone and ask for a few paragraphs on why they matter. What began as a last-minute request before a late-night shift turned into a heartfelt, intentional message of encouragement from a father to his son.

Years later, Richard was brought to those same words - and had the opportunity to read them aloud again at Bryce’s wedding.

This episode is a reminder that what feels small, inconvenient, or easily forgettable in the moment can become deeply meaningful over time. Our words carry weight. Our encouragement lasts longer than we think.

This week’s challenge: Send the text. Make the call. Speak the life-giving words. You never know the impact they may have.

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During a late-night binge over Christmas break, an unexpected Sermon on the Side moment emerged from an unlikely place: Stranger Things.

In a quiet but powerful exchange, Eleven wrestles with the belief that she’s a monster - haunted by her past and the things she’s done. Her father challenges her to do something difficult but necessary: to remember all of it - the good and the bad - because wholeness doesn’t come from denial, but from honesty.

That is a powerful concept!

In this episode, Brad brings a story that opens the door to a deeper gospel conversation about surrender, identity, and what it means to be truly known by God. We explore how healing and restoration don’t come from filtering our lives down to only the “acceptable” parts, but from laying everything before the Lord - our victories, our failures, our shame, and our hope.

Anchored in the truth of Psalm 139, we’re reminded that God is the Creator, the One who formed us intentionally and lovingly. And if God created us - fully and completely - then nothing about us is accidental, wasted, or beyond redemption.

Wholeness doesn’t come from rewriting our story.
It comes from surrendering it.

Listen in as we reflect on what it looks like to stop hiding, stop labeling ourselves by our worst moments, and instead allow God to search us, know us, and lead us into life.

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Sermons on the Side Bible Readings

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We made it to Episode 50 — and we’re welcoming the New Year together.

In this special New Year’s Day episode of Sermons on the Side, Richard and Brad pause to celebrate 50 episodes of conversation, reflection, laughter, and grace. But in true Sermons on the Side fashion, the celebration gives way to a quieter, deeper story.

The Sermon on the Side comes from a New Year’s Eve in 2009, when Richard found himself in a difficult and uncertain season of life. Instead of noise, resolutions, or big declarations, he was challenged to let the old year pass in silence — and to welcome the new year the same way. What followed was not instant clarity, but a posture of surrender that shaped what came next.

As we step into a new year ourselves, this episode invites us to consider what it looks like to release what’s behind us, resist the urge to fill every moment with answers, and trust God in the quiet.

Thank you for walking with us through 50 episodes. Here’s to the next chapter — and to the grace found in surrendered silence.

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Merry Christmas!
This week, we’re keeping things short and sweet so you can get back to what matters most - celebrating Christmas with family and loved ones.

In true Sermons on the Side fashion, we take a brief look back at some of our favorite moments from the past year, highlighting what we’re calling “Christmas sightings.” These are episodes that - whether we realized it at the time or not - carried themes of hope, waiting, grace, redemption, and light breaking into ordinary life.

We revisit five of our favorite episodes from the year and reflect on how the story of Christmas has been quietly present all along. No long sermon. No heavy lifting. Just a simple reminder that God often shows up in the everyday moments.

Thanks for listening, for being part of this community, and for walking alongside us this year.
Merry Christmas from our families to yours. 🎄✨

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Sermons on the Side Bible Readings

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Love the show? If you’re enjoying the stories, laughs, and conversations we share here, we’d be so grateful if you’d consider “buying us a cup of coffee” to help keep things brewing. It’s a simple way to show your support and keep the podcast going strong!

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Thank you for being part of the journey with us!

With just one week to go until Christmas, Richard and Brad kick off this holiday-themed episode of Sermons on the Side with playful banter about the countdown to Christmas, the excitement building in their homes, and the different Christmas Eve and Christmas Day traditions their families are looking forward to this year.

But as is often the case, a Sermon on the Side comes from an unexpected place.

While battling a major head cold, Richard shares a rather gross - but relatable - story involving sinus treatments, neti pots, and the realization that this is not how his nose is supposed to work. What began as a joking comment to his wife, Rhonda, sparked a deeper reflection that carried him straight to the nativity story.

At some point in Mary and Joseph’s journey - despite angelic visits, divine promises, and deep faith - they had to look at their circumstances and think, it's not supposed posed to be this way. A pregnant virgin, a long journey, no room at the inn, and a Savior born in a manger - none of it fit the picture they likely imagined.

In this episode, Richard and Brad reflect on how so much of life feels like it shouldn’t be this way - especially during the holidays. Yet the heart of Christmas is this: God enters the mess. Like baby Jesus stepping into our broken world, God inserts Himself into our “it's not supposed to be this way” moments and completely changes everything.

As we move through the final seven days of Advent, this episode serves as an invitation to stop resisting the tension, accept the reality of our circumstances, and allow Jesus to come into our world - right where we are.

Because Christmas reminds us that even when things aren’t supposed to be this way…God still comes to us.

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Sermons on the Side Bible Readings

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Thank you for being part of the journey with us!

In Episode 47, Brad and Richard share a simple Advent moment that has stayed with Richard for years. At a monthly gathering of local pastors just a couple weeks before Christmas many years ago, Father Bill stood to pray before the meal and offered a line that quietly reshaped the room - and Richard’s understanding of Advent:

“Help us to remember what Christmas teaches us,
that You will always come to us.”

Fast forward to 2025, that short prayer sparked a deeper conversation between Brad and Richard about how easily we can get swept up in the season - the decorations, the nostalgia, even the biblical narrative of Jesus’ birth - while missing the personal meaning behind it all. Christmas isn’t just the story of Jesus coming into the world… it’s the story of Jesus coming to us.

Using Matthew 4:16 - “on them a great light has dawned" - we reflect on how the coming of Christ is always personal, always purposeful, and always for people who need hope. Advent reminds us that God doesn’t wait for us to climb our way up to Him; He steps into our world, our mess, our darkness, and comes near.

It’s a gentle, meaningful episode for anyone needing a reminder in this busy season:
Jesus doesn’t just come - He comes to you.

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Sermons on the Side Bible Readings

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Love the show? If you’re enjoying the stories, laughs, and conversations we share here, we’d be so grateful if you’d consider “buying us a cup of coffee” to help keep things brewing. It’s a simple way to show your support and keep the podcast going strong!

Here’s the link: buymeacoffee.com/sermonsontheside

Thank you for being part of the journey with us!

Coming off a week of Thanksgiving festivities - with crowded tables, family stories, and full hearts - we shift right into the Christmas season with the first of several holiday-themed episodes.

This week’s conversation centers on a very real, very recent story from Richard’s trip to Boston to visit his son, daughter-in-law, and new grandbaby. What should’ve been a simple car-rental experience turned into an unexpected headache: double charges, endless holds, and the dreaded words no one wants to hear… “10–14 business days.”

After weeks of waiting (and believing the refund might never come), Richard called once more to run it up the corporate flagpole - and to his surprise, everything was resolved. But here’s the kicker: the refund landed exactly on the 14th day. Not early. Not late. Not rushed. Not forgotten. Right on time.

That moment brought Richard back to one of his favorite verses in Galatians 4 - Paul’s reminder that Christ came “in the fullness of time.” We unpack what that phrase meant historically, spiritually, and practically:

• Why Jesus’ arrival over 2,000 years ago happened in the most perfect physical, cultural, and economic moment in human history
• How God’s timing - though rarely our timing - always carries intention, purpose, and precision
• And how we can learn to trust Him with our own waiting: our hopes, confusions, delays, desires, prayers, and messy in-between seasons.

As we kick off this Christmas series, we look at that ancient truth lived out in a modern customer-service phone call: God is not late. He is not early. He is perfectly on time.

Send us a text

Sermons on the Side Bible Readings

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Love the show? If you’re enjoying the stories, laughs, and conversations we share here, we’d be so grateful if you’d consider “buying us a cup of coffee” to help keep things brewing. It’s a simple way to show your support and keep the podcast going strong!

Here’s the link: buymeacoffee.com/sermonsontheside

Thank you for being part of the journey with us!