Unshakable: How Do We Stand When Everything Around Us Falls? [Scott Lehr]

·59 min·5 clips

The Tacoma Bridge collapsed not from apocalyptic wind, but because it was designed to fail—just like spiritual pressure exposes hidden cracks.

This sermon from Southbridge Fellowship in Raleigh concludes a four-week series on the short New Testament book of Jude, delivered by the church's founding pastor. The pastor uses the 1940 collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, nicknamed "Galloping Gertie," as a central metaphor for spiritual failure under pressure. He explains that Jude, the half-brother of Jesus who initially doubted him, wrote this letter to warn early Christians about false converts who had secretly entered their communities. These individuals, described in Jude 1:4, use godly language but deny Christ's lordship through their actions and cause division through sins like gossip and slander. The pastor references A.W. Tozer's quote about error skillfully imitating truth, making it hard to distinguish "which brother is Cain and which is Abel." Jude 1:14-16 cites a prophecy from Enoch, not found in the canonical Bible, about the Lord coming with thousands to judge the ungodly for their acts and defiant words. The sermon's turning point arrives in Jude 1:20, where the address shifts from "these people" to "but you, dear friends," offering instructions for the faithful. The pastor outlines a three-point response: "Build up, snatch up, look up." Building up involves strengthening one's "most holy faith," which he defines not as personal emotion or intellectual knowledge but as the foundational gospel of Jesus Christ's life, death, and resurrection. He contrasts the Tacoma Bridge's failure with the Akashi Kaikyō "Pearl Bridge" in Japan, which withstood a 7.3 magnitude earthquake in 1995 due to its intentional design. The pastor states that believers build themselves up through daily engagement with God's Word, as noted in Acts 20:32, and through "praying in the Holy Spirit," which means submitting one's will to God's. A third component is "waiting," which he interprets as an eager, confident expectation for Jesus's second coming, not a passive hope. He suggests spending five minutes daily reflecting on biblical images of Christ's return, like the trumpet blast from 1 Thessalonians 4:16 or lightning filling the sky from Matthew 24:27. The sermon's tone is pastoral, instructional, and conversational, blending biblical exposition with modern analogies and practical application. Listeners interested in biblical teaching on perseverance, church community health, or practical Christian discipleship would find this episode valuable. Those seeking a purely theological debate or a non-religious perspective might choose to skip it.

As heard by us

A plainspoken sermon about bridge-building, gospel identity, and the call to live with a gospel lens.

Southbridge Fellowship Sermons frames its message around the bridge image, using it to connect mission, community, and life change. It presents Southbridge Fellowship in Raleigh, North Carolina as a church meant to move beyond its own walls and build bridges into the community…

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Need a sermon that says who you are before it tells you what to do?

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