Shows / The Blue Collar Scholar
The Blue Collar Scholar
This podcast will cover the topics covered by the history lectures, sermons, and Bible/theology studies of Will Reitz.
Episodes
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Sermon - Celebrate with Joy!, part 2: Pride & False Humility are Joykillers
The Easter Sermon Series continues as we "Celebrate with Joy!" However, there are things in life that kill our joy: depression, despair, and apathy can drain…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
WWII, episode 11: The Home Front
World War 2 was a total war that affected all areas of life and society in every nation engaged in the war (and also many that did not actively participate)…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Comparing World Religions, episode 11: Hinduism
Hinduism is almost certainly the oldest active religion in the world. Hindus form the majority community in the most populated nation on earth. In this…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Sermon - Celebrate with Joy!, part 1: The Joy of Resurrection
Our Easter 2026 Sermon Series is "Celebrate with Joy!" Far too often, preachers bring the gloom and the doom and they preach repentance and righteousness. As…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
WWII, episode 10: D-Day
June 6th, 1944, is probably the most important, pivotal day of the 20th Century. On that day, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Comparing World Religions, episode 10: Islam
Having discussed the history of Islam in the previous episode, the Comparing World Religions lecture series now turns to an analysis of the religion of Islam…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Sermon - The Upside Down Kingdom, part 3: Your Day in Court
This sermon series ends with a short story that I wrote years ago. I have picked carefully when to use this story in a sermon. I want to use this tool at the…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
WWII, episode 9: North Africa
Italy & France had colonies in North Africa when World War II started in Europe, and so the war crossed the Mediterranean Sea, drawing in first the British --…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Comparing World Religions, Episode 9: Islamic History
Islam is the second biggest religion on Earth, and by many accounts, the fastest growing religion. It has a long and rich history. Every major Empire in Asia…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Sermon - The Upside Down Kingdom, part 2: Wealth
Christians are tempted to reinterpret every teaching Jesus gives us about wealth, because His insight into wealth is so counterintuitive. Building off last…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
WWII - Spring Break Special Episode: Japanese History
This week is Spring Break in Southeast Kansas, so our classes are taking a break. Instead of the regularly scheduled World War II lecture, I decided to dust…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Comparing World Religions, episode 8: Religions That Branched Off of Christianity
This one will be controversial. I have concluded that several religions are not part of Christianity because they have changed or abandoned major theological…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Sermon - The Upside Down Kingdom, part 1: How To Get Ahead in Life
Jesus calls us to an unbelievably counter-intuitive calling: the lead by serving. As He washed His disciple's feet and willingly died as a sacrifice for sin…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
WWII, episode 8 - Midway & Guadalcanal: 1942 in the Pacific Theatre
This episode returns to the Pacific Theatre of World War II after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the Japanese conquest of the Philippines. In the 1st six…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Comparing World Religions, Episode 7: Christianity Section Conclusion
This episode wraps up the Christianity subsection of the course on Comparing World Religions. From here on out, the course will cover religions that are…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Sermon: Of More Noble Character (Acts 17:10-12)
Luke, the author of the Book of Acts, tells us that the Jews from the town of Berea were "of more noble character" than the Jews from the town of Thessalonica…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
WWII, episode 7: The Holocaust
The Holocaust is a tragedy on an unimaginable scale. It was the result of unrestrained racism amongst those with absolute power. This episode focuses on the…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Comparing World Religions, episode 6: Protestant Denominations
Since the professor and every member of the Comparing World Religions class in Christian, our sub-section over Christianity is several lectures long…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Sermon: God Does Not Change
One of the most important attributes of God is that He does not change. For if God can change, then He was either imperfect and has changed into perfection, or…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
WWII, episode 6 - 1941: Operation Barbarossa & Pearl Harbor
1941 was the year when the final major chess pieces were put on the World War II chessboard. Neither the United States of America nor the Union of Soviet…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Comparing World Religions, episode 5: The Protestant Reformation
This episode goes into both reform and separatist movements in the Church going back long before Martin Luther. And, of course, we discuss the life and times…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Sermon: The Lost Art of Giving & Receiving Correction
There is a word that pops up in Scripture from time to time: "rebuke." It is not a word that is part of the average American's vocabulary. A better term might…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
WWII, episode 5: The Battle of Britain
Following the miraculous British evacuation from Dunkirk, the UK stood alone as the sole major, unconquered nation standing in the way of Adolf Hitler. The…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Comparing World Religions, episode 4: The Roman Catholic Church & the Eastern Orthodox Church
I am no expert on the Roman Catholic Church, and I know even less about the Eastern Orthodox Church. (Note: This will be true for many of the world religions…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Sermon: Faith Is Intentional
Here's a nice, short, sub-20-minutes sermon to enjoy on your Valentine's Day. I dusted off the oldest sermon notes I have, at least for any sermon that…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
WWII, episode 4: Initial Nazi Victories
Blitzkrieg (German for Lightning War) is designed to move quickly, discombobulate your enemy, and achieve victory before they can properly counter attack. In…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Comparing World Religions, episode 3: Christianity
This will not be the only lecture on Christianity in the Comparing World Religions class this spring. This lesson mostly focuses on Christian teachings and…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Sermon: A Brief Overview of the Book of Job
The Book of Job is a fascinating case study in human suffering. In it we see an extremely righteous man suffer, and we see his well-meaning friends…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
WWII, episode 3: The Wars that Became WWII
Even though World War I was supposed to be "The War To End All Wars," there were several major and minor wars that ravaged the world between World War I and…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Comparing World Religions, episode 2: Judaism
Our survey of world religions begins with Judaism. With a common Tanakh (Old Testament) tradition shared with Christianity, Judaism has an impact on history…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Sermon - The Heaven Series, part 4: Ambassadors of the Kingdom of Heaven
This is the conclusion to the Heaven series. Since we learned about Heaven in the previous three sermons, we now examine what it looks like to be an ambassador…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
WWII, episode 2: After WWI
This episode jumps right into the the end of World War I and the Paris Peace Conference & the Versailles Treaty. We take a quick survey through the…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Comparing World Religions, episode 1: What Is Religion?
This Spring, I will be teaching a World War II class and a Comparing World Religions class for the Lifetime Learning program at Neosho County Community…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Sermon - The Heaven Series, part 3: New Heavens and New Earth
The Heaven Series now focuses on the last few chapters of Revelation and asks important questions about what the eternal Kingdom of Heaven, called "New Heavens…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
WWII, episode 1: World War I
The Spring 2026 Lifetime Learning classes kick off with our World War II class. This episode analyzes World War I with special emphasis on how the Great War…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
WWII, episode zero: The Leadup to The Great War (WWI)
NOTE: This is a re-broadcast of an episode from August 28, 2025. ... This lecture was intended to be a World War I lecture, but the lion's share of the lecture…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Sermon - The Heaven Series, part 2: Heaven
The Heaven series continues into the next logical topic: Heaven itself. In this sermon we will explore what the Scriptures say that Heaven is and what it is…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Sermon - The Heaven Series, part 1: Death
This begins a new 4-part series on Heaven. And, unfortunately, the logical place to start this series is on a downer: death. But the Bible has a lot of…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Sermon: The Farewell Sermon of Joshua (Joshua 24:14-26)
Happy New Year! As we bid farewell to 2025, let us take a look back in the Old Testament to a time when a great leader said farewell to his era and ushered in…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Sermon: In the Fullness of Time (Galatians 4:1-7)
Merry Christmas!!! You probably haven't heard a Christmas sermon from Galatians before. But in Galatians 4, the Apostle Paul -- who almost never talks about…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Sermon - The Church, part 7: Casting a Vision for a Local Church
This sermon was originally given as an "In View of a Call" sermon at First Baptist Church of Goodman (MO) in December 2011. It was not, to the best of my…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Sermon - The Church, part 6: The Rituals of the Church
While there are many informal rituals in a church - how many songs one sings before and after the sermon, for instance - and while many churches (such as our…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Sermon - The Church, part 5: The Organization & Administration of the Local Church
The New Testament uses the term "church" to refer to the global church - or, all who serve Jesus and are saved by His sacrifice - as well as the local church…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Sermon - The Church, part 4: Giving Thanks
Happy Thanksgiving! This episode looks at the life of the Apostle Paul and all the hardships he faced. And yet he directs us to give thanks in all…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Sermon - The Church, part 3: Worship
The local church's purpose has to include an outward focus (mission), an inward focus (fellowship), but most importantly an upward focus (worship). Worship is…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Sermon - The Church, part 2: Fellowship
The local church must do outreach; that is covered in the previous episode. The local church must worship God. That will be next week's lesson. In this…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Sermon - The Church, part 1: Mission
This episode starts a new series that examines what the Bible says about the local church. This episode digs into the outward focus of a church: mission. This…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Sermon - Real Theology, part 7: Who Is God the Son?
This conclusion of the Real Theology series covers - but barely scratches the surface of - Christology, or the study of Christ. Following through on the…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Sermon - Real Theology, part 6: Who Is the Father?
God manifests Himself as God the Father, God the Son, & God the Holy Spirit. The divinity of Jesus Christ and His identification as God the Son is a fount of…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Sermon - Real Theology, part 5: Who Is the Holy Spirit?
For our *** THREE HUNDRETH EPISODE!!! *** we will continue in our sermon series entitled "Real Theology." In this episode we take a look at what Scripture…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Sermon - Real Theology, part 4: The Attributes of God
In this episode we review all the attributes of God that we have previously discussed in the "Real Theology" series, and conclude with a last look at the…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Sermon - Real Theology, part 3: God Is Not Like Us
Theologians divide God's attributes into two categories: communicable attributes, which we share with God (only in much lesser capacity), and incommunicable…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Sermon - Real Theology, part 2: God Is All ...
The Real Theology series continues as we discuss what the One God (see last episode: "There Is One God") is like. He is (1) all powerful, (2) all knowing, (3)…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Sermon - Real Theology, part 1: There Is One God
This fall begins a new project. I will be preaching at a local nursing home facility, and I will be sharing those sermons on this feed. Our first series is a…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Ambassador Academy, episode 25 - Epilogue: The End Times
Based on the frequency of End Times-related content on this podcast feed, I fear that you may misinterpret how fanatical I am about eschatology. Believe me, I…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Ambassador Academy, episode 24: A Defense of the Resurrection of Christ
The final apologetic argument in this series is an in-depth look at the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. If Christ is raised from the dead, then that validates so…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Ambassador Academy, episode 23: Apologetics
This episode functions as a conclusion to the apologetics section of the Ambassador Academy series, except for the argument from the Resurrection of Christ, a…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Ambassador Academy, episode 22: Creationism
Genesis chapter 1 is probably not intended by God to be a scientific text. Rather, it appears likely that it is a polemic written against all of the…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Ambassador Academy, episode 21: Evolution and Intelligent Design
The ultimate Teleological Argument for the Existence of God is Creationism. Creationism comes in 3 forms: Young Earth Creationism, Old Earth Creationism, and…
- The Blue Collar Scholar
Ambassador Academy, episode 20 - The Teleological Argument: The Fine-Tuning of the Universe
The apologetics subsection of the Ambassador Academy curriculum continues with an examination of the fine-tuning of the universe and how that strongly supports…