07/19/2026
This is the first sermon in a new series titled "When God Says Go" at Veronica Springs Church, delivered by Pastor Graham immediately following the church's 40-day season of consecration. Using the story of the Transfiguration (Luke 9:28-37) as his primary text, Graham frames the sermon around a simple but profound metaphor borrowed from his faith hero Jackie Pullinger — missionary to Hong Kong's Kowloon Walled City — that the Christian life is like breathing in and breathing out. He argues that mountains in Scripture consistently represent divine encounter (Eden, Sinai, Carmel, Pentecost), and that the Transfiguration was not primarily about Peter, James and John's feelings or experience but about two things: the affirmation of Jesus's identity ("This is my Son, whom I have chosen") and the commandment to listen to and follow him. Peter's instinct to pitch tents and stay on the mountain, Graham argues, mirrors a common tendency in the Western church to hold onto the "breath in" of spiritual encounter without breathing out into mission and service. He draws a contrast between those who only inhale (spiritual consumers who feel stuck) and those who only exhale (burned-out servants who never replenish), calling the church to learn the natural rhythm of both. He illustrates this with extended personal stories from his five years running Alpha ministry in Dallas — starting with a disastrous first launch where 11 of 12 leaders cancelled, through Covid destroying everything, to a breakthrough chain of salvations that still ripples today through a self-sustaining Alpha. He closes with a call to obedience after encounter, an invitation to an Alpha training on July 25th, and communion as the act of coming back to receive Jesus before going out again.
This is the first sermon in a new series titled "When God Says Go" ...
