Filled With Messages

Filled With Messages

By Ruth FarrellReligion & SpiritualityChristianity
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Filled With Messages episodes

  • Gain a Heart of Wisdom
    To whom do you listen when you’re in need of wisdom? There are so many “experts”, self-help gurus, programs which promise wisdom that it’s hard to know who to listen to. This message considers how the Psalms encourage us find wisdom.
    15 min
  • Listening to Ourselves
    There are so many messages clamoring for our attention that it can be hard to hear ourselves in the midst of all the noise. This episode considers why learning to listen to ourselves is so important.
    22 min
  • Listening To Others
    Our world is filled with messages encouraging us to speak early and often. But if we learned to listen well, might we be able to bring more peace into our hurting, angry, violent world? Listen in to ponder the idea. (This episode contains quotes from The Listening Life by Adam McHugh. Many thanks to him for his words and work.)
    19 min
  • The Listening King
    Our world is filled with so many competing messages about the characteristics of a good leader. How can thinking about Jesus as our leader help us sort out the true markings of good leadership?
    15 min
  • Reason to Hope
    So many of the messages we hear are hopeless, perhaps because there are so many things in this world that seem to be falling apart. Are there reasons to hope that our broken world won’t always be this way? Listen in to find out.
    20 min
  • Priorities
    We are bombarded by so many messages about what should come first in our lives. Listen in to think a little about setting priorities as a follower of God.
    19 min
  • A Gloaty GOAT
    Our culture is filled with stories of GOATS (the greatest of all time). The subtle message behind these stories is that all of us should try to be the greatest of whatever we do (parenting, friendship, work, etc). But as Christians, is greatness the goal? Is that the message Christ speaks into our lives? Listen in to hear more.
    18 min
  • Bless and Do Not Curse

    When I listen to the world around me, I hear a lot of messages that might not contain actual "swear words," but are filled with curses.   God, though, calls those of us who seek to follow him to bless others.  Listen in to hear how we might do that. 


    Barbara Brown Taylor's book An Altar In the World is quoted several times in this sermon.  Many thanks to her for her thought-provoking work.

    14 min
  • Waiting Even 70 Years
    One of the messages that comes across loud and clear today is that waiting is bad.  In our Instagram world, we should be able to have anything we want instantly.  But this sermon, based on Jeremiah 29:1-14, reminds us that God sometimes asks us to wait, perhaps even as long as 70 years.  IT was preached October 13, 2019 at St. Peter United Church of Christ in Lake Zurich, Illinois.  The guided spiritual practice at the end of the sermon (Welcoming Prayer) was found in Beth Ann Estock's book Discernment.
    18 min
  • Crying at the Sad Parts

    Sometimes it seems as though one of the messages of Christianity is that those who trust God aren't supposed to cry.  We're supposed to be brave and say "It is well with my soul", even when life is awful.  But is that really what God asks of us?  Is it ok to cry at the sad parts of life, even if we believe that God is working all things together for his glory and our good?  This sermon, preached at St. Peter United Church of Christ in Lake Zurich, on October 6, 2019, explores these questions through Psalm 137.

    20 min

About Filled With Messages

From the publisher's feed

Life is filled with messages. At best, most of them are forgettable. Plenty of them are confusing and anxiety-inducing. Filled With Messages are the sermons of Ruth Farrell, the lead pastor of a…