Sermons on Spiritual Growth (Page 8)
For All the Ways We Live in Exile: A Hard and Hopeful Message
Jeremiah’s message to the Israelites in exile in Babylon is complicated, hopeful, and hard. He calls for acceptance and resistance. He calls us to the hard work of externalizing home in unhappy places. In response to the forces that keep pulling us apart, he calls on us to keep reaching back to each other and remaking home.
Nurturing a Shepherd’s Heart and an Open Heart
What did God see in David? We are told God does not look at outward appearance but looks at the heart. What qualities did God see in David’s heart? How can we nurture those qualities with us?
Holy Rumbling: Courage, Conflict, and Vulnerability
In our story this week, God calls Samuel and asks him to deliver harsh words of rebuke to his mentor Eli the priest. Watch Pastor Billy will reflect on how we can learn from Samuel’s example and have honest conversations ourselves that are grounded in courage and vulnerability.
How to Workout When You Don’t Have a Spiritual Elliptical Machine?
God used manna to train the Israelites to trust in God one day at a time. We don’t have manna today and we aren’t in the desert. How can we learn to trust God more? Through the disciplined practice of generosity and giving.
Does God Look Away? Does God Forget Us?
Throughout the Bible, we hear of people experiencing God as absent. This is hard because we prefer to believe God is ever-present. How can we honor this scriptural testimony about God’s absence while seeking and finding God’s presence with us always?
Dealing with People Who Don’t Play by Your Rules
How do we deal with people who don’t play by the rules we thought everyone had agreed upon? Rebekah is a woman with a message from God in a patriarchal society. She has to resort to deception to realize God’s message. Can we ever meet Rebekah’s example and learn how to nurture God’s blessings?
Did God Really Want Abraham to Sacrifice Isaac?
Does God really ask Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac? Or is there a deeper challenge in the story of Genesis 12:1-14? Pastor Billy will preach on what we can all learn from Abraham and Isaac’s encounter with God (spoiler alert: killing your children is not what God wants).
What Should We Be Grateful For?
We all know we should be grateful and probably more grateful than we are. But, are some things in our ethically complicated world less fruitful as objects of our gratitude? And are something things very fruitful?
Fighting the Real Enemies
How do we read these challenging passages about Israel conquering the native inhabitants of “The Promised Land”? What is our Promised Land today and what enemies must we overcome to enter into it?
What Does it Mean to Be Kind?
In the latest installment of our Summer Stories Sermon Series, Govans member, Carolyn Anewich asks what does it mean to be kind? Using the book, Be Kind by Pat Zietlow Miller as a starting point, Carolyn draws from her own personal experience to show how kindness can transform our world.
Speak, Act… and Listen
Faith without works is dead, the letter of James tells us. So why does a letter focused on action open its letter with instruction to delay speaking and anger and to start with listening, instead?
We Are Perfectly and Wonderfully Made
Enjoy Lea Gilmore’s powerful Sermon from June 13, 2021, part of Govans’ Summer Sermon Series focusing on children’s literature. Featuring Maurice Carroll on piano.