Pastor Josh Howerton, senior pastor of Lakepointe Church in Rockwall, Texas, faced criticism on social media for using two large ladders as an object lesson during a recent sermon about the Christian life. During a Sept. 20 sermon in his sermon series "Fight the Good Fight," Howerton used the ladders to illustrate the difficulty of being a Christian who tries to please an increasingly depraved world.
Based on 2 Timothy 3, which describes "times of difficulty" and the wickedness of people in the last days, his sermon singled out the moral trait of those who are called "lovers of self." "If you're a brand new disciple, let me tell you what is going to happen in your life that you're not aware is going to happen in your life," said Howerton, who noted that the apostle Paul teaches in his epistle to Timothy that "the Word and the world are in constant conflict with one another, and there will come a day in your life when you must choose which one stands in authority over the other one." By popular demand, here’s the full #LadderGate2026 sermon illustration.
Week 7 of series through 2 Timothy, right after a few hundred people surrendered to Christ and are deciding whether to be obedient in baptism next week.
Would do this again a thousand times for those ppl (if I weren’t getting too old for stuff like this!) Exhorting new believers to follow Joshua's admonition to "choose this day whom you will serve," Howerton straddled two large ladders to visually illustrate the ultimate impossibility of serving two masters.
He likened a new Christian who commits to joining "Team Jesus" and taking "baby steps" in the Christian walk to someone who takes the first step up one ladder, which he noted is close enough to