The Grove Church / Dallas, Texas

From the hateful comments on social media to 24-hour vitriol from news pundits to national and global political and social unrest - doesn't it feel like everyone is angry all the time? Anger as an emotion in response to an offense is understandable and normal - but when it becomes chronic, when it becomes a habit, when we are constantly offended and angry - this becomes a problem we must address....

Our society measures personal worth in terms of productivity, efficiency, and the maximization of our potential. But what if that's all wrong? What if busyness and workaholism aren't virtues but telltale symptoms of a deadly vice? In this sermon, Rev. Stephen Lohoefer shares a new understanding of the vice of sloth and how we can find peace in our restlessness.

A vice is a habit, a pattern of action, that develops into a character trait - and so, in short, what we do determines who we become. In this sermon, Rev. Stephen Lohoefer helps us examine the vices in our life and learn how to avoid their destructive patterns in pursuit of Christ-like virtues.

Tongues of fire?! Violent wind?! If you've never celebrated Pentecost before, it is a special day on the church calendar that marks the official end of the Easter season and the birth of the church itself. This Sunday, we celebrate a famous scene in the book of Acts when the Holy Spirit fills the disciples with the power to bring heaven on earth. That legacy lives on in us-- the church! As followe...

In a story, the plan is given to the hero by the guide. It lays out the path for the hero to follow and explains who the hero needs to become to succeed. We see this in Star Wars with Obi-Wan Kenobi teaching Luke how to use the Force. Similarly, we long for a plan in our own lives - someone or something to tell us what to do and who to become. But the danger comes when we trust the wrong guide and...

Obi-Wan Kenobi. Gandolf. Dumbledore. Every good hero needs a guide to help them navigate their great adventure. This Mother's Day, Rev. Allie Shulman talks about what it means to have a guide, who our true guide is, and how to more faithfully access his guidance.

We are all living a story. In this sermon, Rev. Stephen Lohoefer shares how the quality of our story depends on how we respond to the call to adventure, that moment that disrupts the status quo, throws us into the unknown and challenges our abilities and confidence.

Rev. Allie Shulman talks about the impact of stories in our lives and on our brains. Then, she tells us a story - THE story- for this Bible Sunday.

When the ground on which you stand becomes unstable, and everything begins to fall apart, what do you hold on to? In this sermon, Rev. Stephen Lohoefer shares an Easter message to help us find an unshakable ground.

Everyone has treasures. This is an essential part of what it is to be human. But what we treasure says a lot about who we are and how our life goes. In this sermon, Rev. Stephen Lohoefer shares Jesus' teaching on this question, "what's your treasure?" and why it matters so much.

"How's your heart? As we move through this series on the Sermon on the Mount, we see time and time again how our motivation, or our heart, matters most. In this sermon, Rev. Stephen Lohoefer looks at Jesus' litmus test for true discipleship - and how to know if your heart is in the right place."

"Are you a good person? According to Jesus, this might be more uncertain than you think. In this sermon, Rev. Stephen Lohoefer shows how Jesus challenges our notion of who is and isn't a good person, how we can become one, and why it matters so much. "

"Pound for pound, word for word, the Sermon on the Mount is the most incredible collection of wisdom ever recorded. In this sermon, Rev. Stephen Lohoefer shares how Jesus' teachings here, contained in chapters 5-7 of the Gospel of Matthew, reveal the relevance of God to every aspect of our existence - and its necessity to our life now more than ever."

In this sermon, Rev. Stephen Lohoefer wraps up our series, Troubled Hearts, and looks at the two-headed monster of our desire to acquire - Jealousy and Greed. Jealousy is the desire to have what someone else has, and greed is the desire to have more and more. They can be so subtle that you likely don’t think they affect you - but left unchecked, they have a significant influence over our lives and...

We are all guilty of something. We live with that guilt whether we acknowledge it or not. Guilt can be a constructive thing, but it also can poison our hearts and our lives in a way that ends up being destructive. In this sermon, Allie talks about navigating these feelings of guilt in our relationships as we continue our series Troubled Heats.

"We've all felt it before. That slow boil just below the surface. Our chest tightening, pulse-quickening, face reddening, and then....BAM! We explode. Now anger is a normal feeling, but what happens when your anger becomes the norm. What do you do when you're always angry or can't control what happens when you get angry? In this sermon, Rev. Stephen Lohoefer wrestles with one of the most common em...

Have you ever said something you didn't mean or done something you thought you'd never do? Most of us have. In the aftermath of these moments, we wonder to ourselves, "where did that come from?" In this sermon, Rev. Stephen Lohoefer answers this question as we explore our new series, Troubled Hearts.

What happens when our prayers go unanswered? How do we reconcile the gap between our reality and the future we hope for? In this sermon, Rev. Stephen Lohoefer shares a way we can respond in prayer during difficult seasons.

Whether it's doubt, cynicism, or overconfidence in our abilities - we struggle to ask God for help. Depending on your level of self-sufficiency and pride, asking for help from others can be uncomfortable and challenging. But asking for help from God - that's a non-starter. In this sermon, Rev. Stephen Lohoefer talks about the why's and how's to ask God for help.

"The single biggest obstacle to a prayerful life is cynicism. Cynicism has become the dominant spirit of our age and is taught in schools, reinforced in culture, and is wreaking havoc in our relationship with God. In this sermon, Rev. Stephen Lohoefer addresses the cynicism we experience and shows how Jesus gives us straightforward ways to overcome this obstacle and replace our cynicism with hope....

Often when we sit down to pray, we try to be our best selves. It's like we're going to a dinner party and we get dressed up and put on fancy clothes, ready to impress all those we meet. The problem is Jesus specifically tells us that this type of behavior should not belong in prayer. Instead, we should approach prayer more like a child, messy, unkempt, without guile. Rev. Allie Shulman unpacks wha...