As busy moms, it can be hard to set aside much (or any) time for spiritual growth. Though it’s worth it, it’s not an easy struggle to get the family to church each week. What should be daily time for prayer and bible study usually comes around much less often. And time to sit and read the latest book by your favorite Christian author? Forget it!
Sermon podcasts have been a literal God-send to me as I try to reclaim my time from the busyness that Satan sometimes uses to keep us distracted from God. In our house, I don’t have much time during the day for in-depth study, but the time after my children go to bed is GOLD for me. That’s the time I can quiet me mind enough to concentrate, the chores are done, and I can disengage from the little ones for a while. It’s really the only time in my regular day that I can focus and truly learn. I can pull out my bible, spend some time in my prayer journal, and fire up a sermon podcast from one of any number of good bible teachers. And on the days when even that seems too much, I can lie in bed and listen to a sermon podcast on my iPhone before falling asleep. It’s not ideal, but it sure beats spending that time playing Candy Crush. 🙂
There are a couple of sermon series that I have listened to recently that I think you’ll enjoy. Chris Hodges is pastor at Church of the Highlands in Birmingham, and he is doing a series on how to use our influence for God’s kingdom. So far there are three messages on their website for this series, but there will be more as he preaches over the next few weeks. Michael Youssef, pastor of Church of the Apostles in Atlanta and teacher on Leading the Way radio program, is preaching from Joshua this week. This sermon series is all about following God into the unknown areas that He sometimes calls us to. And I know I shared earlier the message from Chad Cossiboom, one of the associate pastors at my church, called “Be A Disciple That MAkes Disciples.” The sermon podcast has now been published, and you won’t want to miss it. It is one of the best expositions from Colossians 1 I have ever heard.
Do you have favorite sermon podcasts you would recommend? I’d love to hear about people you follow and learn from.
I really enjoy listening to John Piper! He has a ton of sermons available through his app Desiring God. I also enjoy re-listening to my pastor’s , Harry Reeder, sermons. I’ve found that listening to a sermon while in the gym is a great time for me!
Thanks for the recommendations, Laura. Will definitely add them to my list. I especially want to hear some of Dr. Reeder’s sermons. Love keeping up with the local churches 🙂