Amazing Grace Baptist Church Mount Airy · Amazing Grace Baptist Church

"Some Things that Need to be Fixed" - Pastor Jonathan Barker - Sunday Morning - 11/23/25

·35 min·3 clips

Pastor Barker reveals why trying to fix your own broken tractor—or life—only makes a bigger mess.

Dr. Jonathan Barker, pastor of Amazing Grace Baptist Church in Mount Airy, North Carolina, delivers a Sunday morning sermon titled "Some Things that Need to be Fixed." He frames his message around Psalm 57:7, which declares, "my heart is fixed, O God," and argues that believers must allow God to repair broken areas of their lives. Barker opens by reflecting on a recent Sunday school lesson about the spiritual value of tears, citing Jesus weeping in John 11:35 and Psalm 126:5-6 about sowing in tears. He shares two personal anecdotes to illustrate human tendencies toward faulty self-repair: a church van with a check engine light and a malfunctioning tractor PTO switch. The pastor explains he avoided making a bigger mess by taking the tractor to a John Deere dealer, just as people should bring their problems to God. Barker outlines four specific areas that need divine fixing: the heart, the head, the hands, and the eyes. He states the heart must be fixed with salvation through Jesus Christ, referencing Romans 10:13 and the universal sin condition from Genesis 3. The head, he argues, needs fixing with Scriptural knowledge to combat instability, using 2 Timothy 2:15 to emphasize study. Barker insists that a claimed salvation without a desire for God's Word indicates a serious problem. For the hands, he cites James 2 to show real faith has "working hands" and Galatians 6:1-2 about restoring others with meekness. He contends that gratitude produces willing hands for service, turning spectators into servants. Finally, the eyes must be fixed on the souls of sinners, based on the Great Commission in Mark 16:15, warning a church that loses its evangelistic burden loses God's blessing. A surprising claim is Barker's blunt assessment that refusing to show emotion or cry doesn't demonstrate toughness but "dumbness." He provocatively suggests that a lack of spiritual fulfillment may stem from a failure to weep before God as Scripture models. The pastor also states that ignorance of the Bible creates personal instability, while deep study creates stamina and sharpens spiritual discernment. A memorable moment is his critique of the "me syndrome," where excessive self-focus prevents service and gratitude. Barker concludes with a parable about a master craftsman restoring a shattered violin, asserting God can reassemble broken lives to make "even richer" music than before. His tone is passionate, conversational, and exhortative, blending personal stories, humor, and direct biblical application. The style is a topical sermon with an urgent, revivalistic feel, aimed at provoking self-examination and immediate response. Listeners who appreciate traditional, heartfelt Baptist preaching with practical life analogies will find this episode encouraging and convicting. Those uncomfortable with evangelical calls to personal salvation or a direct, confrontational style might choose to skip it.

As heard by us

A direct sermon about brokenness, salvation, Scripture, and handing the repair to God.

The sermon argues that some things in life do not yield to grit, habit, or religious effort. It moves from sin entering the world in Genesis to salvation through Christ, then to the role of Scripture in reshaping the mind, before settling on the broken-tractor image of taking a…

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Press play if you need straight talk about what only God can fix.

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