Insights, Learnings, Tidbits, and More

SERMON: “Insights, Learnings, Tidbits, and More”
Ephesians 1:15-23
May 24, 2009 Dr. Dennis Ginoza

Today I have asked Steve LeFevre to share some of his
thoughts and insights. He is a businessman and a good one.
He is a Christian and a good one. He reads good
Books, he drives fast cars (his wife Ellen keeps him straight),
and he is a Notre Dame fan and that’s okay. He is a graduate
of the University of South Dakota and majored in Jewish
engineering—actually it was business. At age 30 he was
the youngest Dodge dealer in the US. He was a member of
the Dodge Dealer’s Council representing 5 states. His dad
was a dealer of the early cars, DeSoto, Nash, Plymounth,
Studebaker, etc.; lots of them which no longer exist.


Steve LeFevre Presentation




723-5516, 723-4727, 723-0116, 451-8668, 451-0663, 451-1928
728-1472, 728-4038, 728-4248, 728-1191, 728-1689, 728-3979
728-3976, 728-1123, 728-4311, 728-7433…and so on.

A few years ago, Betty Jackson had volunteered to
make calls to people who came to the church
for the first time. So every Sunday after church,
I would call Betty. At first, every time I called
Betty, I had to look up her phone number. So I
decided I just need to remember her number. So
I started, Fallbrook has four prefixes, 723, 728, 731, and 451.

Betty’s number is 728-5210. All right…I repeated
728, 728… not 723 or 731 but 728. 52 that’s
a highway down south. 10 that’s another highway
up north. 728-5210 …that how I started to remember
Betty’s phone number. From that day on, I started
Put people’s phone number in my head.

When Plato was asked by one of his students, how do you
remember all your ideas? He said, “I just walk down
the street and visit my friends.” When Plato visited
one friend, he could recall all his ideas in the Republic.
When he saw another friend, it made him think about
his essay on Timaeus. And so it goes.
2
The mind is a wonderful gift.
The mind is the window to the world.
Not too long ago, there was a story on television about
the oldest working man in the world. At the age of 104 he still goes to work. He drives his car to
his office, sits at his desk, and mails out his
orders. He is a bee keeper. The interviewer said to him,
I understand you have a philosophy of life. He said,
“Yes, I do.” …”What is it?” …..He thinks and thinks
and he says, “I forget.” So the interviewer went on.
“Now do you remember?” He said, “Yes. …Use it or lose it.”

Did you see in the article inSan Diego Union entitled, “Dementia-free
Past 90: Secret May be Bridge.” The point is: use you
mind, keep active, and play bridge. Georgia Scott who
is 99 says, “It’s where our closest friends are.” How
many of you play bridge? How many of you do crossword
puzzles? How many of you speak a second language?

The apostle Paul says, “Put on the mind of Christ.” In Ephesians
He says, “Pray that God of our Lord Jesus Christ will give
you wisdom and revelation.”
Wisdom will tell you what’s important.
Wisdom will tell you, you never stop learning.
Wisdom will tell you, some people you can trust only
sometimes. Some people you cannot
not at all. Some people you can trust most of the time.

When I was a freshman in college, I spent my first summer in Defiance,
Ohio. I was the guest of my good friend, Duane Pickering. I
learned that his parents, Bob and Naomi Pickering, were so
inspired by Elton Trueblood, they left their home in Dayton,
bought a farm, took an old barn and converted that into a retreat
center. It is called the Tri-State Yokefellow house serving Ohio,
Indiana, and Michigan.
*What I learned from that experience is,
if you have just one idea, it can change your life.
Bob Pickering had served as a county
commissioner and he got Duane and me a job with
the Toledo Construction Company and later the La Choy
Food Factory, in Archbold, Ohio.
*What I learned again is that, it’s not
what you know, it is as much, who you know.

*In his book, “A Place to Stand,” Elton 3
writes about Archimedes the Greek mathematician who
invented the lever. He said, “Give me a place to stand and
I will move the world.” Elton Trueblood says, ”The place
to stand is on Jesus Christ our Lord.”
*What I have learned is that first, I must put
my life into the hands of God,
in Jesus’ name.
*When I graduated from college, I decided I wanted
to change the world so I joined the Peace Corps.
I was trained in Texas and in Puerto Rico.
Yes, I did change some lives. I found a leader
to start a Boy Scout troop started. Iworked with
a health inspector eight families to give 50 colognes
(about $7.00 each) and we got a Care Pump over the
open well. Our Peace Corps group got the Vice President of Costa Rica to come out and speak at two of our leadership training seminars. I worked with the teachers of a school, visited the Department of Education and got
got three new classrooms built. We got a lot of volunteers in the construction project. I worked with leaders of several beach communities got help from the government to build a landing strip. That’s another story.

*What I have learned is that, first, I must change myself. That’s why God put me here. Until I change, I cannot change the world.

When I was pastor of the Santee United Methdist Church, there was
a woman named Marty Marshall. She had MS, multiple sclerosis.
Every Sunday her dad would bring her to church. She was cared for at the
County Facility called Edgemoor. I used to take Jeremy and Aaron
with me to visit her. Marty was sharp, witty, and funny. I used to
tell Marty, one day you will understand “why” things happen as
they do. When Jeremy was applying for medical school, he
mentioned that one of the experiences that helped him was his visits
with Marty Marshall. Today, Jeremy is a medical doctor.
*I believe today that in a little boy named Jeremy, a seed was
planted when he visited Marty Marshall.”

Jesus said, the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. It is the
smallest of seeds and it will grow into a tree.

*Thank you Steve LeFevre for planting new seeds of ministry.
*Thank you all for the seeds you are planting today.