The Seeds of Grace

Posted on May 29, 2022 by mitchteemley

A pastor friend recently asked me to speak about forgiveness. Knowing my history with the subject as a writer, filmmaker and teacher, he suggested I do a follow-up to his own recent message on forgiveness. This provided a surprising opportunity (though not surprising to God, of course) for me to present a prototype of the guest speaker message I’ve been planning on doing in conjunction with the feature film and upcoming novel Healing River.

My history with the subject has been lifechanging, to say the least, so my passion to pass the flame remains as strong as ever. This message (below) speaks about the healing and redemption that grow from forgiveness (seeds), through mercy (watering), to grace (new life). This is a journey — from “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:12) to “be merciful as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36) to “love your enemies” (Matthew 5:44) — that Jesus calls every one of his followers to take. A lifegiving garden he calls every one of us to plant!

Feel free to enjoy the worship music, but if you’d prefer to skip right to the message, it begins around the 17-minute mark. If you enjoy liturgical readings, bell choirs, and choral music, you might wish to watch the traditional version of this service by clicking here. 

Blessings, fellow Gardners!

About mitchteemley

Writer, Filmmaker, Humorist, Thinker-about-stuffer
This entry was posted in For Pastors and Teachers, Quips and Quotes, Religion/Faith and tagged , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

29 Responses to The Seeds of Grace

  1. simba frank says:
    May 29, 2022 at 2:24 pm

    Thanks for sharing Mitch. Happy Sunday!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  2. Pingback: The Seeds of Grace — Mitch Teemley | Ups Downs Family History

  3. rwfrohlich says:
    May 29, 2022 at 4:41 pm

    Wonderful message Mitch. Forgiving others, or myself, is hard to do. You helped show me a way today.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  4. revruss1220 says:
    May 29, 2022 at 4:58 pm

    Awesome message! As Don Henley so famously said (quoting scripture, I’m sure), “It’s time to get down to the heart of the matter. But my will gets weak, and my thoughts seem to scatter, but I think it’s about… FORGIVENESS.” Well done, faithful servant. Well done.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  5. Tony Briley says:
    May 29, 2022 at 7:40 pm

    That was an awesome message and that trailer gave me goosebumps. It is on my must-see list. A handful of years ago I learned a valuable lesson in forgiveness, both giving and receiving and I liked the way you explained there won’t be bands playing and trumpets blaring. Instead it is a somber, calm, inward moment. It is good you pointed it out so those struggling to forgive can know what they are reaching for.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  6. Linda Lee Adams/Lady Quixote says:
    May 29, 2022 at 8:29 pm

    Mitch, your message touched my heart.

    Dear Lord Jesus, please teach me to forgive the way You forgive.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  7. katiesencouragementforyou says:
    May 29, 2022 at 8:52 pm

    Looking forward to listening to your message. Thank you for sharing!!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  8. Gary Fultz says:
    May 29, 2022 at 10:02 pm

    Very real Mitch. It is a difficult lifelong journey. Those dead end trails of unforgiveness in relationships through life are really hard. Thanks for sharing some of your journey

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  9. musingsofmanettekay says:
    May 30, 2022 at 2:41 am

    Wonderful message, Mitch! I love the three-point gardening analogy used––perfect. Thank you for sharing vulnerable moments of your own story. This is one I will bookmark, it’s a message worth repeating to let it all soak in.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  10. Restored Heart says:
    May 30, 2022 at 7:45 am

    ‘Learning to forgive the way Jesus did’ – #oneofthebestlifegoals!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  11. Nancy says:
    May 30, 2022 at 12:00 pm

    Great message on forgiveness, Mitch. Love how you weaved in some of your own personal stories.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  12. Matilda Novak says:
    May 30, 2022 at 3:17 pm

    Thank you Mitch. I listened today and shared this with others as well, including my brother who lives in Cincinnati with his family. That is a relationship in need of forgiveness and healing. Thank you again for sharing this with me….I appreciate what you said, and it gives me Hope.

    Matilda Sent from my iPhone

    >

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • mitchteemley says:
      May 30, 2022 at 3:23 pm

      My privilege, Matilda. I hope those you’re praying for, including your brother here in Cincinnati, find their way to taking those steps toward forgiveness and healing.

      Like

      Reply
  13. #hood says:
    May 30, 2022 at 9:35 pm

    luke 6:38 left off

    Like

    Reply
  14. Ann Coleman says:
    May 30, 2022 at 10:39 pm

    Thank you for sharing this, Mitch! That was a great message….you speak as well as you write, and that’s saying something!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  15. braypa says:
    May 31, 2022 at 12:15 am

    Thanks for sharing His inspirational word and truth on forgiveness, and that permeates in and through your own life 😀

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  16. joynealkidney says:
    May 31, 2022 at 9:55 am

    Very powerful and poignant words. That trailer is especially compelling.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  17. smarttoughmom says:
    June 1, 2022 at 5:08 pm

    Happy to see you preaching on YouTube! It is awesome!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  18. Pingback: The Seeds of Grace | Restored Ministries Blog

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s