Sermons

Will Bearden: Acts 16:16-34

 
A Sermon for Covenant: Acts 16:16-34
Covenant Baptist Church, San Antonio
Eastertide
May 12, 2013
Will Bearden

(To listen to the audio, click “play” button above. To download audio, click here.)

Lydia

A Sermon for Covenant
“Lydia”
Acts 16:9-15
Covenant Baptist Church, San Antonio
Eastertide
May 5, 2013
Kyndall Rae Renfro

 (To listen to the audio, click “play” button above. To download audio, click here.)

Recently I happened to meet some women who meet spontaneously for Centering Prayer, at various places in San Antonio. I joined them this last time, when they met under the Fringe Tree. We had to time it just so, as the Fringe tree’s bloom only lasts for two weeks or so, and we were compelled to pray under its blooms. I had only met one of the women before that day, but here we were, gathering for prayer and the deepest kind of kinship underneath God’s magnanimous sky and the white blooms of an exotic tree. Read more →

How We Say It

A Sermon for Covenant
“How We Say It”
Acts 11:1-18
Covenant Baptist Church, San Antonio
Eastertide
April 28, 2013
Kyndall Rae Renfro

(To listen to the audio, click “play” button above. To download audio, click here.)

Last week I heard a Christian comment, “I would rather offend someone into heaven than flatter them into hell.” I could not get over the absurdity of this statement. As if this person had totally forgotten it is by grace we are saved. That it is kindness that leads us to repentance. That God is infinite and unfathomable love. Read more →

It Takes a Village

A Sermon for Covenant
“It Takes a Village”
Acts 9:36-43
Covenant Baptist Church, San Antonio
Eastertide
April 21, 2013
Kyndall Rae Renfro

(To listen to the audio, click “play” button above. To download audio, click here.)

Unlike most healing stories in the Bible, in this case, we learn quite a bit about the healed one, Tabitha. She is a disciple, who lives in Joppa, known for doing good and helping the poor. We hear that Tabitha clearly made and kept good friends. At her death, her friends gather around, wearing the proof of her goodwill on their very backs, clothed in the works of her hands. Read more →

Wesley Craig: John 21:1-19

A Sermon for Covenant
John 21:1-19
Covenant Baptist Church, San Antonio
Eastertide
April 14, 2013
Wesley Craig

(To listen to the audio, click “play” button above. To download audio, click here.)

Finding Courage

A Sermon for Covenant
“Finding Courage”
Acts 5:27-42
Covenant Baptist Church, San Antonio
Eastertide
April 7, 2013
Kyndall Rae Renfro

(To listen to the audio, click “play” button above. To download audio, click here.)

Peter, Peter, Peter, where did you get your courage? I mean, we know you’ve always been one quick to speak up and speak out; also, somebody who is quick to put your foot in your mouth. You’ve always had gall, but courage isn’t the same as arrogance, and we all know how well you passed that test. We know how you jumped forward at the Last Supper, the way you so often jumped to speak, and how you promised you were ready to go with the Lord to prison and to death. And we’ve heard what happened next. The way you didn’t so much follow through, how in the face of a servant-girl in a courtyard that night you went weak-kneed and lost all your nerve. How you renounced the Lord, not once but three times, again, then again, until the rooster crowed and woke you up from the paralysis of your courage. Read more →

The Easter Witness

A Sermon for Covenant
“The Easter Witness”
Luke 24:1-12
Covenant Baptist Church, San Antonio
Easter Sunday
March 31, 2013
Kyndall Rae Renfro

(To listen to the audio, click “play” button above. To download audio, click here.)

I see these women, so faithful, so focused, so few, the rare ones who did not go into hiding, who did not hole away in their grief, but instead, rose early in the morning to tend to the body of their Lord. They are the first risers that Easter morn, and I wonder, how much did these women want to stay in bed? Wouldn’t they rather evade the reality of his death with sleep? Surely they would have preferred a stupor to awakeness, but something got them out of bed. Maybe it was their friendship with each other. They had made plans to meet at the tomb and while none of them wanted to get up and go, neither did anyone want her sister to walk the road alone, and so each one rose in order to join the other women, walking side by side to the place where all their hopes lay buried. Read more →

Ground Breaking, Stone Bellowing Truth

A Sermon for Covenant
“Ground Breaking, Stone Bellowing Truth”
Luke 19:28-40
Covenant Baptist Church, San Antonio
Palm Sunday
March 24, 2013
Kyndall Rae Renfro

(To listen to the audio, click “play” button above. To download audio, click here.)

In Genesis chapter four, when Cain kills his brother Abel, God approaches Cain about the coldhearted murder, to which Cain says, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” God replies, “Listen!”

“Listen:
your brother’s blood
cries  out
(to me!)
from the ground
the ground which gaped
wide its mouth
to swallow the blood of your brother
which dripped from your hands.”[1] Read more →

Philippians 3:4b-14

A Sermon for Covenant
Philippians 3:4b-14
Covenant Baptist Church, San Antonio
Fifth Sunday of Lent
March 17, 2013
Steve Spivey

The Inheritance

A Sermon for Covenant
“The Inheritance”
Luke 15:11-32
Covenant Baptist Church, San Antonio
Fourth Sunday of Lent
March 10, 2013
Kyndall Rae Renfro

 (To listen to the audio, click “play” button above. To download audio, click here.) 

As he walked away, he fingered the coin in his pockets. Clink, clink, clink, clink. His pouch weighed heavy on his back, packed to the brim with money and his very best outfit folded neatly on top. Clink, clink, clink, clink. The assortment of coins collided with a certain rhythm as he walked, almost creating departure music for his new great adventure. This put a spring in his step despite the weight of his bag and he half-skipped the whole first mile. Clink, clink, clink, clink. He never looked back until he was well out of sight—perhaps he didn’t want to see his father in the window, peering after him with sorrow in his eyes, strain on his furrowed forehead, his usually-busy hands hanging forlornly at his sides as if emptied of ideas. He certainly didn’t want to see his mother, undoubtedly standing dejectedly beside his father. No matter how old he got, it still bothered him to see his Mama cry. So with every step he focused his eyes on his daydreams and let the visions of his family fall by the wayside. Clink, clink, clink, clink. What a grand time he would have! As his feet hit the open road, he felt a twinge of regret rise up, but he swallowed it back. He could not wait to be free! Clink, clink, clink, clink. He could not wait to spend his inheritance, to feel the joy of his money at last, to experience all the world had to offer. Clink, clink, clink, clink. Read more →