Second on the Mount

Luke 5:27-32, 17:7-10
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from World Communion Sunday, October 5, 2025.
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/ 

***This sermon was originally intended to be a visual experience. We encourage you to watch the original live streamed recording of this sermon on YouTube.***Video: "The Light We Shine"
Thank you to Andrea Boone, Jane Winders Frank, Ginger Poole Avis, and the wonderful staff and technicians at Mill Mountain Theatre.
. . . 
Matthew 5:14-16
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, September 28, 2025.
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/ 

Mark 1:21-39, Acts 17: 24-28
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, September 21, 2025.
"You are the living church when you forgive in a culture of vengeance. You are the living church when you speak truth in the face of lies. You are the living church when you love your neighbor more than your comfort. You are the living church when you sow compassion in a world that rewards cruelty. You are the living church when you refuse to bow to fear and choose hope and generosity instead.
"This is what it means to pray and live “Thy kingdom come.” May we follow Christ even when it leads us beyond the maps. May we be the living church in a world that needs it now more than ever."
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/ 

Isaiah 53:2-3, Philippians 4:8
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, September 14, 2025.
"In the aftermath of [Charlie Kirk's] shooting—as with so many other publicized acts of violence, and the countless unseen ones—we all should be asking ourselves: Do our words carry the same ugliness we say we condemn and are we contributing to this dangerous climate?"Whether you're a leader, a public voice, someone on X, or with a Facebook page, or an Instagram account, or a loud voice in the neighborhood or at the dinner table—If you speak of those you disagree with as enemies…If you repeat wild claims that stoke fear and cast others as villains…If you talk like a war is starting…You’re not calling out violence.You’re contributing to it."...I don’t want to preach a gospel that takes partisan sides and becomes another form of ugliness. I want to preach the beautiful Gospel of Jesus Christ—the one who absorbed the world’s ugliest violence and answered it with love, grace, and peace."
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/ 

Exodus 14:10-16
Sermon by the Rev. Ben Brannan from Sunday, September 7, 2025.
"The ways in which God is calling you to show your faith might surprise you. It might require courage. It might require you to risk comfort and convenience for the sake of love. It might require you to silence the bickering noise of the world and courageously take one step forward—and then maybe another."
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/ 

Matthew 4:1-11
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, August 31, 2025.
"The temptations Jesus faces may sound distant from our lives—turning stones to bread, leaping from a tower, bowing to the devil—but what they represent is very real, and just as present in Roanoke as they were in the wilderness. . . . Just as a tuning fork causes an internal string to vibrate, these three temptations strike chords within us as they did with Jesus—our desires, our fears, our arrogant self-righteousness, our certainties, our longings for significance, control, or reassurance."
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/ 

Matthew 5:13-16
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from our Rally Day Picnic on Sunday, August 24, 2025.
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/

Scripture: Luke 12:49-53
Sermon by Dr. George C. Anderson from Sunday, August 17, 2025.
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/

"By Faith" – Hebrews 11:1-10, 12:1-2
Sermon by Nancy O. Gray, Parish Associate for Visitation, from Sunday, August 10, 2025.
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/

"The Armor of God" – Ephesians 6:10-20
Sermon by the Rev. Elizabeth N.H. Link from Sunday, August 3, 2025.
Read the manuscripts of our latest sermons at: https://www.spres.org/worship/sermons/