Our pastors provide weekly sermons that stir the soul and challenge our worldview in a constructive and edifying way.
First Presbyterian Church of Dallas
Not all suffering is the same. In this sermon from Mark 5, we explore the difference between pain and affliction. Pain scars the surface. Affliction burns underground, severing the roots that connect us to community, voice, and belonging. As part of the Gravity & Grace series, this message reflects on the woman who hemorrhaged for twelve years and the synagogue leader, Jairus. One comes from the front with a voice intact. The other reaches from behind, nearly erased by isolation. Affliction is not merely physical suffering, it is what happens when the soul begins to believe it is alone, invisible, or even complicit in its own pain. In the midst of urgency and interruption, Jesus stops. He creates space for the invisible to become visible again. And he completes the miracle not only by healing her body, but by restoring her name: “Daughter.” The affliction is suffered alone. The un-affliction always happens in public.
In Scripture, the sea is never neutral. It represents chaos, fear, and the forces that pull everything downward. In Mark 5, Jesus crosses the water to meet a man living among the tombs, bound by affliction and abandoned to gravity. This opening sermon in the Gravity & Grace series explores what Simone Weil called the “natural movement of the soul”: fear descends, water always falls, and we often prefer familiar suffering to unfamiliar grace. Gravity is not malicious, it is simply the law. But grace interrupts. When Jesus restores the man to himself, he does not invite him into the boat. He sends him home to tell what mercy has done. The miracle is not only that he was healed, it is that he returned. Grace does not always pull us toward safety. Sometimes it sends us back into the places least likely to understand us, armed only with a story of mercy.
Ash Wednesday begins with a descent. In Mark's Gospel, Jesus is named “Beloved” at his baptism and immediately driven into the wilderness. This sermon explores what that movement means, not as punishment or “tough love,” but as a return to dust, to humanity, and to grace. In a culture that avoids limitation and fears weakness, this message invites us to see the wilderness differently: not as breaking, but as reuniting. Not as exile, but as homecoming. In the wilderness of dust, God does sacred, recreating work. As we begin Lent, we are reminded that grace is not found in our rising, but in our descent.
What if friendship is less about being understood and more about the willingness to truly know another person? This sermon reflects on Christian friendship as a practice of attention, one that honors full humanity rather than convenience or similarity. Drawing from Philippians 2:19–22, the message explores Paul's description of Timothy as a model of friendship shaped by humility, curiosity, and shared concern. In a culture that rewards self-expression and recognition, this sermon invites listeners to consider a different path: friendship rooted in seeking to know rather than striving to be known. Part of the Koinonia: The Five Marks of Friendship series.
What if friendship is less about being understood and more about the willingness to truly know another person? This sermon reflects on Christian friendship as a practice of attention—one that honors full humanity rather than convenience or similarity. Drawing from Philippians 2:19–22, the message explores Paul's description of Timothy as a model of friendship shaped by humility, curiosity, and shared concern. In a culture that rewards self-expression and recognition, this sermon invites listeners to consider a different path: friendship rooted in seeking to know rather than striving to be known. Part of the Koinonia: The Five Marks of Friendship series, preached by Charlene Jin Lee
What makes a voice trustworthy—and why can confidence alone be misleading? This sermon explores “righteous speech” as more than tone or delivery, arguing that truthful words are formed through the disciplined work of discernment. Drawing from Paul's prayer in Philippians, this message connects the physiology of speech with the spiritual practice of separating what is true from what is merely acceptable. Righteous speech, the sermon suggests, comes from a life that has already done the interior work of clarity, courage, and conviction. Part of the Koinonia: The Five Marks of Friendship series, preached by Amos Disasa
Rev. Amos Disasa begins a new sermon series on friendship
Amos preaches from Matthew 2 on the first Sunday after Christmas
Pastor Amos preaches the Christmas Eve sermon that he's not allowed to preach on Christmas Eve
Rev. Dr. Charlene Jin Lee preaches on the third Sunday of Advent
Pastor Amos preaches on the second week of Advent
Rev. Jessie Light-Wells begins our advent sermon series, 'Joy Comes in Minor Keys'
Amos concludes our God's Got Room series on Commitment Sunday
Rev. Amos tells a story of helping someone along the highway as we continue our journey through Deuteronomy and Acts
Rev. Dr. Charlene Jin Lee invites us to rest with a sermon on Sabbath
Amos kicks off a new sermon series that uses scripture from both Deuteronomy and Acts to paint a picture of Covenant
Amos closes out our series in the book of Esther by reminding us of the importance of telling stories
Rev. Amos Disasa continues our series in the book of Esther
Rev. Dr. Charlene Jin Lee helps us to recognize the wisdom of timing in the book of Esther
Rev. Meagan Findeiss continues our Cast Lots sermon series in the book of Esther
When Mordecai refused to bow, Haman's anger grew into hatred. What began as one man's resistance became a decree of destruction for an entire people. Esther 3 confronts us with the dangers of pride and unchecked power, and asks what it means to remain faithful when evil is given authority.
Esther makes her first appearance in our series as Amos Disasa preaches
Rev. Dr. Charlene Jin Lee closes out our How to Be Human sermon series with the story of Ruth and Naomi
Learn to laugh at yourself with Rev. Amos Disasa and a Scripture reading about a talking donkey
Rev. Amos Disasa teaches us how to cry out for help as we reflect on a passage from 1 Kings
Pastor Amos uses the story of Jacob and Esau as a guide for making amends
Pastor Amos kicks off a new sermon series called How to be Human
Rev. Amos Disasa preaches as we end our poiema sermon series on parables
Rev. Amos Disasa preaches as we near the end of our poiema sermon series on parables
Rev. Jessie Light-Wells challenges our traditional interpretation of a parable as we near the end of our poiema sermon series
Rev. Dr. Charlene Jin Lee continues our poiema journey through the parables of Jesus
Amos preaches about a God who rises above the divisions we see all around us to harvest what is truly good
Rev. Amos Disasa peaches about justice for the widow and oppressed in our poiema sermon series
Rev. Jessie Light-Wells preaches on the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin in our poiema sermon series
Rev. Meagan Findeiss continues our Poiema sermon series
Rev. Dr. Charlene Jin Lee continues our Poiema sermons series
Rev. Jessie Light-Wells and Brandy Lee finish out our journey on the road together
Pastor Amos invites us to eat the bread of Christ as he preaches the next sermon on a parable in our poiema series
The Wood Street community gets the opportunity to hear a story from Fernando and Jessie Light-Wells preaches and we continue our journey down the road to Emmaus
Join us on the road to Emmaus as we journey together for three weeks and hear stories from folks within the Wood Street community. Jessie Light-Wells preaches, Nikki Thompson shares.
Easter Sunday has come and Pastor Amos has a word of hope to share with us
Rev. Meagan Findeiss preaches on Palm Sunday to close our our The World That Glimmers series
Rev. Amos Disasa calls us into deeper intimacy with God in this sermon from The World That Glimmers sermons series
Lazarus has finally been raised as we continue our series in John 11–12
Rev. Amos Disasa preaches on Mary's grief at the death of Lazarus
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