Whether you call them homilies, sermons, or talks, there’s a lot you can learn from the spiritual leaders in our community. While in a perfect world, you’d have time to listen to everyone, that simply isn’t possible for most with limited time to spare. To help, we’ve surfaced and summarized the teachings from the audio sermons of some of the most influential priests and pastors from around town and in the Christian sphere.
You can skip to a specific section by clicking the links below.
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- Fr. Mike Schmitz
- Buckhead Church
- Cathedral of Christ the King
- Passion City Church
- Trinity Anglican Church
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Fr. Mike Schmitz
The homily, “Waiting Well: Trust His Timing,” begins by establishing that the season of Advent is a time of waiting, a task which Fr. Mike admits most people do not do well. He references studies on the psychology of waiting, noting that people particularly dislike times that are unoccupied, uncertain, unexplained, or unfair, because they struggle with not knowing why or when the wait will end. Businesses, like Disney and Domino’s, often make waiting more tolerable by providing something to do or offering transparency, such as the Pizza Tracker, which gives a known timeline and a sense of progress, highlighting the common anxiety caused by unpredictability.
When we don’t know the “why” or “when” of our waiting, we default to worry, which Fr. Mike argues “chokes the joy out of life” by shifting our hearts away from the present and into an imagined, often catastrophic, future. This anxious fretting is completely ineffective, accomplishing nothing while consuming all our mental and emotional energy. He cites a remarkable statistic that over 91% of what people worry about never actually comes to pass, meaning that we “pre-live the pain” and make ourselves suffer twice for things that are not even real, demonstrating that worry is both baseless and paralyzing.
The fundamental source of worry is a lack of trust in God, which Presbyterian pastor Tim Keller summarizes as the belief that “God will not get it right.” Fr. Mike notes that for many today, the primary spiritual hurdle is not believing if God exists, but is God good, echoing the first temptation in the Garden of Eden. God’s answer to this doubt is made visible in the entire Christian story: the Incarnation (Christmas) and the Cross (Easter). Jesus came not as a conquering hero but as a vulnerable baby born into poverty, enduring injustice and uncertainty so that humanity could look at Him and declare, “He’s good, I can trust him,” proving that God has entered into every aspect of our suffering.
The second form of distrust is in God’s timing. Fr. Mike illustrates this with the life of King David, who was anointed king as a teenager but had to wait 15 years—enduring life as a musician, a military champion, and a fugitive—before finally being crowned king of all Israel (2 Samuel 5). David’s story reveals that we are called to engage in the waiting, not just endure it, by actively trusting both God’s goodness and His perfect timing. Fr. Mike concludes with the peace that comes from total surrender: we do not have to wait for a problem to be resolved to stop worrying, because at any moment we can choose to stop worrying right now, simply because “God is good and his timing is perfect.”
Listen to the full version here.
Buckhead Church
Andy Stanley interviews Steve Cuss, a former hospital chaplain and founder of Capable Life, to discuss managing anxiety during the holiday season. Cuss introduces the core concept that “reactivity is contagious” and is consistently rooted in a “false need that feels real in the moment.” He explains that acute anxiety is a necessary response to genuine physical danger, but reactivity is a micro-dose of this response triggered by psychological false needs that are not being met. Drawing from his experience as a chaplain, Cuss notes that a crisis, like a tragedy, merely exposes the underlying, preexisting dynamics of a family or system, much like the stress of Christmas heightens whatever is already going on under the surface.
Cuss identifies five common categories, or “The Big Five,” of these false needs that drive reactivity: Control, Perfection, Knowing the Answer, Being There for Others, and Approval. He clarifies that these are not wrong desires in themselves, but they become “false needs” when a person attempts to carry them out on a “God-sized load.” Since these five categories correspond to the attributes of God (e.g., God is in control, God is perfect, God knows everything), chasing them leads to an unsustainable and constantly reactive state, as humans are never able to reach a standard of perfect control or universal approval.
The opportunity to interrupt reactivity exists in the “space” between a stimulus and a response, granting the power to choose a non-reactive path. Managing this requires noticing the feeling of “Armageddon” within the body and intentionally acting in opposition to the false need. For instance, someone with a false need for “Knowing the Answer” can practice saying “I don’t know” even when they do, to manage the anxiety of feeling stupid. Cuss emphasizes that this is difficult work, especially within the context of family where “umbilical cords are involved,” and encourages individuals to be kind to themselves and aim for “low wins,” acknowledging that a long-term family dynamic will not be instantly fixed.
The spiritual foundation for managing anxiety is a renewed awareness of God’s presence, particularly the Christmas truth of Emmanuel—”God with us.” Cuss stresses that when individuals are reactive, they “forget the Lord” and feel alone, carrying the full burden themselves. By recognizing that “God is already in the room” and ahead of them, they can relax and exchange their anxiety for His presence. This allows a person to define themselves—for example, stating, “I’m looking forward to enjoying each other”—instead of anxiously compensating for the anxiety of others. By separating what is theirs to carry from what belongs to others and what belongs to God, they can avoid catching the anxiety and find peace even amid a chaotic Christmas.
Listen to the full version here.
Cathedral of Christ The King
Bishop Konzen’s homily for the Second Sunday of Advent focuses on the readings from Isaiah and the Gospel of John the Baptist, urging the faithful to work toward establishing God’s perfect kingdom in the here and now. The Bishop begins by reflecting on the prophet Isaiah’s vision of a “peaceable kingdom” where justice, truth, and harmony reign, symbolized by the wolf being a guest of the lamb. This perfect state is one where the Earth is filled with the knowledge of the Lord, a day that we hope and pray for. Isaiah also lists the gifts of the Holy Spirit, reminding the congregation that the Spirit was present and active long before Christ’s ascension, ensuring that all things are finally as they should be.
The Bishop emphasizes that this vision of perfection is not only a picture of Heaven, but also a goal for Christian living on earth. He contrasts this ideal with the brokenness of the world, which creeps into our consciousness and can be taken for granted. The Advent season is a call to action, urging the faithful to take a leap toward restoring whatever is in their control back to the original goodness and order they may have imagined as children. The duty of a Christian is to remember the goal of banishing sin and turning one’s “little acre of existence” into the closest possible approximation of the Lord’s holy mountain, a place of innate hope and joy.
This call to action is amplified by the Gospel reading featuring John the Baptist, whose voice rises above the world’s concerns to declare, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Bishop Konzen focuses on John’s challenge to the Pharisees and Sadducees to “produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance.” For modern Christians, this means the most apparent sign of repentance should be the way we treat God and, critically, the way we treat others, since the two are inextricably linked. The warning—that “every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire”—is directed at all, underscoring that repentance involves not just professing sorrow for sin, but pledging to change and living the “good news.”
The homily concludes with a final reflection on readiness: we must ask ourselves, “Am I ready to live in Christ Jesus so that I will die to sin?” The Bishop encourages the congregation, as they have nearly 20 days left of Advent, to dedicate time for genuine repentance, including going to Confession, attending daily Mass, and increasing prayer. The ultimate goal is to create a true home for the Lord, not a manger on a tabletop, but a “paradise of goodness and faith” within one’s own soul, the inmost being where Christ truly desires to reside.
Listen to the full version here.
Passion City Church
Louie Giglio’s sermon, “Jesus Is God,” confronts the popular contemporary notion that Jesus was merely a great moral teacher, a wise man, or an influential prophet, but not divine. He uses an interview with Albert Einstein to illustrate this viewpoint, where even the renowned physicist was “enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene” and praised the beauty of his sayings, yet stopped short of acknowledging him as God. Giglio asserts that this is the common spiritual hurdle for many today, who accept Jesus as a messenger or historical figure but fail to recognize the explicit claims he made to be God, often believing that “he never claimed to be God.” This sets the stage for the sermon’s central argument: to let Jesus speak for himself.
Giglio first addresses Jesus’ seven “I Am” statements from the Gospel of John (I am the way, the life, the door, the good shepherd, etc.), calling them propositional truth claims. He highlights Jesus’ use of the definitive article “the” in each statement, which established His exclusive authority—He is the way, not merely a way—making him unique among all figures in history. However, Giglio notes that even these profound declarations often fail to convince skeptics that Jesus directly claimed to be the Creator. The ultimate claim of divinity, therefore, must be found in a more definitive statement of identity.
The sermon’s climax is found in John 8:58, where Jesus tells a hostile Jewish audience, “Very truly I tell you, before Abraham was born, I am.” Giglio explains that this is a definitional identity claim and a deliberate, unmistakable declaration of divinity. By using the phrase “I am,” Jesus intentionally invoked the moment at the burning bush in Exodus 3:14 when God revealed His sacred name to Moses as “I AM WHO I AM.” The Jewish listeners immediately understood this reference to the eternal, self-existent God who has no beginning or end, confirming that Jesus was claiming to be God. Their reaction—picking up stones to execute him for blasphemy—proves they recognized His claim of deity.
Giglio concludes by incorporating C.S. Lewis’s argument that one cannot logically accept Jesus as a great moral teacher while rejecting his claim to be God; he must be either the Son of God, a lunatic, or something worse. Jesus did not leave the option of patronizing nonsense; He stated unequivocally, “I am God.” For the believer, this means the relationship is not merely with a prophet, but a direct, spiritual connection to the eternal God, the great “I Am,” who lives in them. This relationship provides ultimate assurance that no immovable mountain in life—be it depression, cancer, or death—is greater than the one who exists and rules over all.
Listen to the full version here.
Trinity Anglican Church
Adrien Christian opened her sermon by exploring the universal “holy longing” for beauty, peace, and rest, asking the congregation where they truly find respite. She used the metaphor of a beautiful crepe myrtle tree in full bloom outside her window to represent the human desire for life to be always whole, right, and just. This ideal, however, is contrasted with the reality of the tree when it is “pruned”—a “stump” that is “not pretty.” This broken image illustrates that “we do not get a life with blooms all the time” on this side of heaven, leading to seasons of disappointment, brokenness, and feelings of hopelessness.
Christian then connected this reality to the prophecy in Isaiah 11:1, explaining that the people Isaiah addressed also felt desperate, facing God’s judgment and destruction. In this state of fear, Isaiah declared God as a “promise keeper,” who would bring a “chute… up from the stump of Jesse.” The preacher noted that this promise was fulfilled in an entirely unexpected way: the long 700-year wait mirrored the Advent season of longing, and the Messiah himself, Jesus, came not from a wealthy, powerful family, but from the lineage of a “peasant” and was born vulnerable and powerless. This message offers encouragement that a “stump” in one’s life is “not the end of the story.”
The promised coming ruler is presented as the perfect “leader that we long for,” possessing all the qualities humans desire in authority. He is described as a spirit-filled ruler who operates with wisdom, understanding, and discernment, not seeking power or privilege. He is also a righteous judge, who is perfectly moral, makes decisions based on underlying truth, and provides justice for the poor. Most importantly, he is a peacemaker who unifies people, calms fear and anxiety, and is perfectly safe—the ultimate answer to the longing for security and universal agreement.
The sermon concludes with an invitation to an Advent practice: waiting with “hopeful expectation.” This hope comes from recognizing that the stump has unseen roots—the “root of Jesse” (Isaiah 11:10), which is God—and that these roots are actively working under the surface to bring restoration. This expectation is lived out in three ways: Praying for God to fulfill his promises and bring his kingdom, acting as spirit-filled agents of his love by practicing justice and showing respect for the vulnerable, and receiving from the “root” with open hands at the communion table, knowing that God alone gives true rest and flourishing.
Listen to the full version here.
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