Sermon Trading Revealed!

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All right, well, let's get started here today. I hope you had a good weekend. I had a great weekend, and yesterday, actually, at church,
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I had the opportunity, my pastors asked me to do a Sunday school series about the
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Social Justice Pharisees book. So, do it in a few weeks, we'll see how that goes. Everyone seemed to like it yesterday.
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I felt like it was a little bit scattered because I just don't really do in -person teaching, really, ever.
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I used to do it back when I was a pastor, of course, preaching and teaching. A lot of times, it goes kind of hand -in -hand, although it's not quite the same thing.
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But anyway, it went pretty well. I think they recorded it, so maybe we'll put that on the video on the channel, and we'll see how that goes.
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But I hope you had a good Lord's Day as well. Now, I did wanna talk a little bit more about Ed Litton.
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Well, actually, not really Ed Litton. He's the catalyst, of course, of all this plagiarism talk and all of that.
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But I did see this article on the Roy's Report, and I don't really care so much about the article itself.
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I've heard the Roy's Report is highly suspect in general. I've heard that they do some good stuff, and then some of it is just really lame.
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But anyway, it's not really about the Roy's Report article, although I did wanna attribute where I found this website.
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But it talks about how there's a whole cottage industry of people buying and selling sermons.
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I guess this is like a trading platform for sermons. It's called sermoncentral .com. I just wanted to check it out.
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And you pay for, I think you can pay for a subscription, or you could buy individual sermon series and stuff like that.
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And apparently, you just go here, and you just type in whatever the topic you want, or maybe you want a certain pastor or something like that.
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And it's like a trading platform for sermons, which, you know,
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I don't know.
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I mean, it's the morning, and I feel like I need a stiff drink. But you feel like you know it all, what's going on, but I didn't know this was going on.
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This is pretty remarkable. Let's check out the website here just for a second, and let's see what this is all about.
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This is TriPro. So this is you could buy $15 a month when you pay annually, and you start a free trial.
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So this is product -led growth. This is what this is called, where you get a free trial, and you can check it out.
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You can access all the sermons. You can unlock pro illustrations. What's that? Pro illustrations.
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So I guess if your life is too boring, or if your mind is too, the lack of creativity, you can purchase an illustration.
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So you'll be like, you know, one day I was sitting in the DMV, and I was thinking about the gospel.
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And I guess really that didn't happen to you, but you bought the illustration. Look at this, copy and paste sermons.
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So I don't know what that is, but that certainly doesn't sound very scrupulous.
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Scrupulous, or is it unscrupulous? I don't know. I'm poor at English. I don't do English very well.
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Okay, look at this. You can access free sermon collections, stuff like that. It looks like a lot of preachers have verified how good this service is.
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Look at this, five -star reviews. Oh, look at this one. This guy says it's acceptable. This person only gave it a three -star, this service.
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It's acceptable, but he doesn't really like it that much. That's interesting. Maybe we'll go through some of those things.
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But yeah, you could just go here, and you can buy sermons. That's what you do. So let's check out, let's try this out.
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So I'm gonna do, oh, you can even go by denomination. This is very interesting. So whether you're a
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Seventh -day Adventist, or if you're Pentecostal, or even Presbyterian, or United Methodist, you could make sure that your sermon is coming from your denomination.
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Let's do this. So we're gonna do, let's do sermon illustrations, and then we'll do, let's see.
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How about, how about grace? We'll type in grace. That's a good popular topic.
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Here's the sermon illustration. So what's going on here? We got, this is a five -star illustration.
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Grace is locked by pro. It says, okay, grace the boy stood defiantly. The boy stood defiantly.
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Go ahead, give it to me. The principal looked at the young rebel and asked, how many times have you been here?
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The child sneered rebelliously, apparently not enough. You have been punished each time. The principal responded, yeah,
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I've been punished. If that's what you wanna call it, go ahead. I can take whatever you dish out, I always have.
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And no thought of your punishment enters your head the next time you decide to break the rules, does it? Nope, I'd do whatever
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I wanted to do. Ain't nothing you people gonna do to stop me either. The principal looked at the teacher who stood nearby.
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What did he do this time? Fighting, he shoved Tommy's face into the sandbox. The principal looked at the boy.
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What did Tommy do to you? Nothing, I didn't like the way he was looking at me. The teacher stiffened, but a quick look from the principal stopped him as he quietly said, today is the day you learn about grace.
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Grace, isn't that what you old people do before you sit down to eat? I don't need none of your stinking grace.
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Oh, but you do, said the principal. The principal studied the young man's face and whispered, oh yes, you truly do.
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The boy continued to glare as the principal continued. Grace, in its short definition, is unmerited favor.
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You cannot earn it, it's a gift, and it's always freely given. It means that you will not be getting what you so richly deserve.
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The boy looked puzzled. You're not gonna whoop me? You're just gonna let me walk? The boy studied the face of the principal.
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No punishment at all? Not even though I socked Tommy in the face and shoved his face into the sandbox? Oh, there has to be a punishment.
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What you did was wrong, and there are always consequences to our actions. There will be punishment. Grace is not an excuse for doing wrong.
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I knew it, sneered the boy as he held out his hand. Let's get on with it. The principal nodded toward the teacher. Bring me the belt.
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The teacher presented the belt to the principal and carefully folded it in two, then handed it back to the teacher.
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He looked at the child and said, I want you to count the blows. The principal walked over to stand directly in front of the young man.
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He gently reached out and folded the child's outstretched, expected hands together, and then turned to face the teacher with his own hands outstretched.
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One quiet word came from his mouth. Begin. The belt whipped out the outstretched hands of the principal.
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Crack. The young man jumped. Shock registered across his face. One, he whispered. Crack, two.
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His voice raised an octave. Three, he couldn't believe this. Crack, four. Big tears welled up in the eyes of the rebel.
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Okay, stop. That's enough. Stop. Crack came down the belt on the hands of the principal. The child flinched with each blow.
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Tears beginning to stream down his face. Crack, crack. No, please, the rebel begged. Stop it. I did it.
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I'm the one. Okay, so this is an illustration about a boy who learns about grace. That's a beautiful story.
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I like that story. That's, you know, nothing wrong with that. It's a beautiful demonstration of grace.
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But if you want to see how the story ends, then you got to pay $15 a month,
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I guess. Or I wonder if you can do this a la carte. Is there an a la carte option? Let's find out. Let's see.
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We got the help section here. Oh, sermon series kits. Look at this. I'm going to get distracted here.
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Let's see. Sermon, royalty still background stills. Okay. Preaching articles.
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I don't know, man. A sermon series kit. Let's check this out. Let's not do that. Let's not. This video, video illustrations.
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You can play videos at church. All right. This is all pretty interesting. Oh, a comedy. There's even a comedy section.
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Let's find this out. Singles advice. Let's check this out. It's a humorous video. This is a humorous video.
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Let's find out what it has to say. Have you talked to Marcus yet? He'd be such a good fit for you. I don't know.
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There's so many white ladies here. Hold on. Let me. Ha ha ha ha ha. Oh my goodness.
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You can buy this one. This, you can buy this video for $18. Wow. This is something else.
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Okay. Let's check out this humorous video on sermoncentral .com. This, this video can be yours for $18.
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Let's check it out. Marcus yet? He'd be such a good fit for you.
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I don't know. I've talked to him and I'm just not that interested. He'd be so such a good fit for you. Like it would be totally awesome.
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We're going to find you a good Christian man. You really don't have to do that. Oh my gosh. Brent, he's a financial advisor for Wells Fargo.
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He brags about it a little bit. Wells Fargo. Did you hear Wells Fargo is canceling all their personal lines of credit?
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Just, you can't do it anymore. I mean, but don't worry though. The economy is very, very strong, but Wells Fargo is extremely concerned that their customers won't be able to pay them back.
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So they're just canceling everyone's line of credit. He's also on the treasury board for the church. That means he cares about the
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Lord's money. I actually tried to talk to him after church last Sunday and we literally talked about Excel spreadsheets.
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My gosh, y 'all have talked? Isn't he so smart? Listen, I know what it's like to be young and single and in the church.
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Okay, I didn't meet Jeff until I was 18 years old. What? Okay, yeah. And those three months in between him and my other boyfriend were the hardest three months of my life.
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I'll get you out of this single place. You just have to find you someone, anyone. As long as they're Christian and go to church, they'll be good enough.
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I'm fine. I don't mind being single. You probably should get married though. That lady should probably get married. These girls are really annoying, but they're right though.
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She should get married. I mean, she looks to be what, like 30 something years old. I mean, she should get married.
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I'm not in a huge rush. What? No, you should be in a rush, okay? Yeah. You don't want to spend the next five to 10 years of your life not married.
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Definitely not. Until you are evenly yoked with your husband, you'll be unevenly yoked to the world. Oh my gosh, yes.
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Oh, Kevin. No. No. No.
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No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. Yeah, but he volunteers for communion every Sunday. Oh my gosh, Tyler! He's a lead vocalist in the worship band.
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And all he does is play guitar. You know, I've... I have never seen him not on stage. Yeah, but when he sings
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Oceans, I cry. I cry. You know who you could love? Derek. Isn't he dating
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Laura? No, they actually broke up two days ago. But I see him with Claire, like, all the time. No, they're just talking. He's actually talking to Claire and Tiffany.
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But you could be the one he more than talks to. Michael! Yeah, sure, he thinks you're in love with him after you've only...
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You know, I wonder if there's a company that just makes these... Maybe this is it, Cedarville Comedy, where they just do these stupid little shorts, and that's all they do, and then they sell it for $18 a pop.
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You know, I wonder if that's a business. It probably is. That's... Talk to him once. That's pretty weird. Time.
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That's the end goal, anyways. No! Bill? Oh, he's so fatherly.
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No, that's not his child. He's always holding someone else's child. Like, what is he trying to prove?
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Uh, that he's a good, good father? Yeah. What about Ken? He's looking at you.
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What? Are you kidding me? What's happening? Excuse me, excuse me, everybody.
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This is my friend Liz, and she is the most eligible bachelorette I have ever met.
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She is desperate. I'm not. Alone. I'm fine! She will literally date anyone.
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Guys, she will date you, you, you, you. Do you have a brother? She'll date both of you.
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We just have to get you married so you can be blissfully happy. You know, maybe you've been single for so long.
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What is the point of this? Because God is trying to teach you something. Okay. How are your marriages?
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Huh? Eh, yeah, it's okay. What? Okay, so here's the point.
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It says, this humorous video, allegedly humorous video, illustrates how sometimes we can treat singleness like it's an unwanted phase of life that we need to quickly get out of.
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But singleness is a worthy calling. And it shouldn't be considered less valuable than the calling to be married.
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So I guess it's supposed to show you that that girl don't need no man. That's not actually accurate.
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But, you know, I'm sure that there aren't any real theological barriers to uploading your stuff here.
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But this is pretty crazy. So let's check out some sermon collections here. I heard that Mike Stone was selling his stuff here.
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Let's find out. Mike Stone. Oh, maybe he deleted it.
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Oh no. Is J .D. Greer on here? I heard J .D. Greer was on here too. Making some of that sick sermon money, you know what
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I mean? Alright, let's see. I can't find anything. Interesting.
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Let's see. Sermons. Maybe they just sell individual sermons. Let's find out.
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Mike Stone. Uh -oh. Stona, that's not how you say his name. Mike Stone.
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What's going on here? I was told that there were sermon series like Mike Stone. Okay, look.
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Maybe this is where you get to it. Here it is. Mike Stone. Look at this.
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It is a la carte. Okay, so it sounds like this. You could either get... Oh, this is a different service.
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This is Sermon Central. This is Sermon Search. So, Sermon Central is a subscription service where you can get sick videos like that one we just saw about how that lady don't need no man.
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And then on Sermon Search, you can buy individual sermons a la carte for six bucks a piece.
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So, Mike Stone, he was running for Southern Baptist President. He lost to the
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Liberal. But he's also selling his sermons. So, you can buy his sermons here for...
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There's 75 sermons. You can get it for 550 bucks. Let's see J .D. Greer. Let's see the kind of sick sermon money he's making.
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J .D. Greer. All right. So, J .D. Greer. Oh, man. Oh, wait.
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Hold on. Hold on a second. Hold on. Here we go. Oh, look.
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You can see all the authors right here. Look at that. Oh, here's J .D. Greer. Perfect. Let's do this.
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J .D. Greer. Looks like he's only got 51 sermons on here. Let's check it out.
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J .D. Greer. This content is part of a series. Let's check out the series. Okay.
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So, you've got the Blessed series and then the Wonder of Mystery series.
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Let's add this to the cart and see how much it costs. J .D. Greer. Oh, look. He only has a couple here.
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Look at what's going on here. J .D. Greer's not even selling as much as Mike Stone. Yeah, this is pretty weird, guys.
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Selling sermons. You know who else does this? Tim Keller does this. He sells his sermons as well. I think his sermon series is like his lifetime achievement of sermons.
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He was selling the sermons for like $2 ,000 or something like that. I think it was marked down.
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It was like $4 ,000, but he had it marked down. It was like a special. He must have been doing the
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Ed Litton special selling his sermons for $2 ,000. That's pretty interesting because you would think that he probably got paid already for those sermons since he was a minister of a church.
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I would assume he had a salary, but, you know, I guess that's… Check out the
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FAQ of Sermon Search. SermonChurch .com is an online resource for sermon outlines and preaching ideas.
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We offer 30 ,000 -plus outlines and 10 ,000 -plus free sermon illustrations. The outlines cost, but the illustrations are free here.
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I guess that's a little better than Sermon Central, the other trading platform, because the illustrations are free.
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You'll write powerful and fresh messages every week with our preparation tools. You get a free trial, 30 sermons for free.
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Then if you do an annual membership, you can get it for $12 .42 per month, and that includes 360 sermons a year.
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You even get extra sermons. There's only how many weeks in a year? Well, 52 weeks in a year, so that would be 52 sermons, but you're getting extra sermons so that maybe you could pick and choose or maybe steal a little bit from this sermon, steal a little bit from that sermon, and all that.
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Then they've got, of course, an a la carte option here, $5 .99 per sermon. That's what's going on here.
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You can pay $5 .99 a sermon, or you can pay annually to get the most bang for your buck.
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Monthly here, you have that. Let's see if What's -His -Face was selling sermons.
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Ed Litton, because Ed Litton was selling sermons. I mean, was stealing sermons, but let's see if he was reselling the sermon.
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It doesn't look like it. I wish there was an easier way to search this. Some pretty big names on here.
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This is pretty ridiculous. I'm not going to lie. This is absolutely ridiculous. Ed Litton, let's find out.
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I don't think you can search it. Oh, no, no, no
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Ed Litton. Well, that's good. I mean, that would be pretty ridiculous if he was repackaging the sermon and then reselling the sermon.
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I wonder if the sermons he bought had, allegedly bought, allegedly had reselling rights to them. That would be something.
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But I said on Gab yesterday that, you know, I wonder if pastors are worried because we've got a lot of price inflation out there right now, and the price of lumber has gone up, the price of oil is increasing.
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The technical analysis chart of the gold market looks pretty good for a bull run on gold.
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I wonder if there's going to be a bull run on sermons. If I was a pastor, I might be worried about that. I'm going to get inflation is going to make the sermon trade one that's attractive to people.
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It costs $6 per sermon now, but I wonder if inflation is going to raise that price the way that the price of lumber went up.
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That would be pretty damaging, I think, to a lot of smaller churches that are stealing sermons like this. I guess I shouldn't say stealing, but purchasing sermons.
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I got to go because my mom told me if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it.