The Village Church: Recent Episodes
The Village Church
A church in the Nolensville, Lenox Village, Nashville area that is committed to being For The Community and helping people connect with Jesus and a community of Jesus followers, grow in their understanding of God, contribute to the Kingdom of God, and go share the love of Jesus.
Water4 President & CEO talks about Water4
We would love to connect with you and you can send us a message here.
Life can feel messy, overwhelming, or stuck, and sometimes it feels impossible to hit “reset.” Fresh Start **is a six-week series about what happens when people meet Jesus in the middle of their real lives: shame, fear, failure, and all.
We’ll hear real stories of real people who wanted more than their life was currently giving them. Their encounters with Jesus changed everything, and the same is possible for you.
No perfect faith, no perfect past, no perfect plan required. Just curiosity. Just showing up. Just seeing what a fresh start looks like when it begins with Jesus.**
We would love to connect with you and you can send us a message here.
Life can feel messy, overwhelming, or stuck, and sometimes it feels impossible to hit “reset.” Fresh Start **is a six-week series about what happens when people meet Jesus in the middle of their real lives: shame, fear, failure, and all.
We’ll hear real stories of real people who wanted more than their life was currently giving them. Their encounters with Jesus changed everything, and the same is possible for you.
No perfect faith, no perfect past, no perfect plan required. Just curiosity. Just showing up. Just seeing what a fresh start looks like when it begins with Jesus.**
We would love to connect with you and you can send us a message here.
Life can feel messy, overwhelming, or stuck, and sometimes it feels impossible to hit “reset.” Fresh Start **is a six-week series about what happens when people meet Jesus in the middle of their real lives: shame, fear, failure, and all.
We’ll hear real stories of real people who wanted more than their life was currently giving them. Their encounters with Jesus changed everything, and the same is possible for you.
No perfect faith, no perfect past, no perfect plan required. Just curiosity. Just showing up. Just seeing what a fresh start looks like when it begins with Jesus.**
We would love to connect with you and you can send us a message here.
Life can feel messy, overwhelming, or stuck, and sometimes it feels impossible to hit “reset.” Fresh Start **is a six-week series about what happens when people meet Jesus in the middle of their real lives: shame, fear, failure, and all.
We’ll hear real stories of real people who wanted more than their life was currently giving them. Their encounters with Jesus changed everything, and the same is possible for you.
No perfect faith, no perfect past, no perfect plan required. Just curiosity. Just showing up. Just seeing what a fresh start looks like when it begins with Jesus.**
We would love to connect with you and you can send us a message here.
Life can feel messy, overwhelming, or stuck, and sometimes it feels impossible to hit “reset.” Fresh Start **is a six-week series about what happens when people meet Jesus in the middle of their real lives: shame, fear, failure, and all.
We’ll hear real stories of real people who wanted more than their life was currently giving them. Their encounters with Jesus changed everything, and the same is possible for you.
No perfect faith, no perfect past, no perfect plan required. Just curiosity. Just showing up. Just seeing what a fresh start looks like when it begins with Jesus.**
We would love to connect with you and you can send us a message here.
Ever met someone so kind, so peaceful, so generous… you found yourself asking, “What is wrong with them?”
When you follow Jesus, your life starts to look… different. Not louder, not weirder—just unexpectedly kind, peaceful, generous, and grounded in a way that makes people stop and ask questions.
Is it possible for you to live so counterculturally—so full of hope and love—that people can’t help but wonder, “What is wrong with you?”
Join us for our new series, Questionable Life, and discover how living with radical love, peace, and purpose can spark curiosity and open doors to deeper conversations.
We would love to connect with us and you can send us a message here.
Ever met someone so kind, so peaceful, so generous… you found yourself asking, “What is wrong with them?”
When you follow Jesus, your life starts to look… different. Not louder, not weirder—just unexpectedly kind, peaceful, generous, and grounded in a way that makes people stop and ask questions.
Is it possible for you to live so counterculturally—so full of hope and love—that people can’t help but wonder, “What is wrong with you?”
Join us for our new series, Questionable Life, and discover how living with radical love, peace, and purpose can spark curiosity and open doors to deeper conversations.
We would love to connect with us and you can send us a message here.
Ever met someone so kind, so peaceful, so generous… you found yourself asking, “What is wrong with them?”
When you follow Jesus, your life starts to look… different. Not louder, not weirder—just unexpectedly kind, peaceful, generous, and grounded in a way that makes people stop and ask questions.
Is it possible for you to live so counterculturally—so full of hope and love—that people can’t help but wonder, “What is wrong with you?”
Join us for our new series, Questionable Life, and discover how living with radical love, peace, and purpose can spark curiosity and open doors to deeper conversations.
We would love to connect with us and you can send us a message here.
What if the story of Jonah isn't just about a big fish - but about you? This four-week series on the book of Jonah is for anybody who's ever run from God, wrestled with grace, lived with a little bit of a rebellious streak, or just been spiritually stuck. It’s for anyone who has wondered if God can still use them after they’ve failed, and for everyone who needs to rediscover the scandalous, unrelenting grace of God. We'll look at God’s relentless pursuit of rebellious people, His surprising grace for outsiders and insiders alike, and the challenge to align our hearts with God's heart.
Join us and see what happens when you stop running and lean into what God is asking you to do.
We would love to connect with us and you can send us a message here.
What if the story of Jonah isn't just about a big fish - but about you? This four-week series on the book of Jonah is for anybody who's ever run from God, wrestled with grace, lived with a little bit of a rebellious streak, or just been spiritually stuck. It’s for anyone who has wondered if God can still use them after they’ve failed, and for everyone who needs to rediscover the scandalous, unrelenting grace of God. We'll look at God’s relentless pursuit of rebellious people, His surprising grace for outsiders and insiders alike, and the challenge to align our hearts with God's heart.
Join us and see what happens when you stop running and lean into what God is asking you to do.
We would love to connect with us and you can send us a message here.
Send us a text
What if the story of Jonah isn't just about a big fish - but about you? This four-week series on the book of Jonah is for anybody who's ever run from God, wrestled with grace, lived with a little bit of a rebellious streak, or just been spiritually stuck. It’s for anyone who has wondered if God can still use them after they’ve failed, and for everyone who needs to rediscover the scandalous, unrelenting grace of God. We'll look at God’s relentless pursuit of rebellious people, His surprising grace for outsiders and insiders alike, and the challenge to align our hearts with God's heart.
Join us and see what happens when you stop running and lean into what God is asking you to do.
Send us a text
What if the story of Jonah isn't just about a big fish - but about you? This four-week series on the book of Jonah is for anybody who's ever run from God, wrestled with grace, lived with a little bit of a rebellious streak, or just been spiritually stuck. It’s for anyone who has wondered if God can still use them after they’ve failed, and for everyone who needs to rediscover the scandalous, unrelenting grace of God. We'll look at God’s relentless pursuit of rebellious people, His surprising grace for outsiders and insiders alike, and the challenge to align our hearts with God's heart.
Join us and see what happens when you stop running and lean into what God is asking you to do.
Send us a text
Everyone has a story, and yours can make a difference. In this series, we’ll explore how God wants to use your unique story to impact other people. Whether your story is dramatic, gradual, or messy, it’s part of something bigger—God’s story. You don’t need a perfect script, just a willing heart. If you've met Jesus, you have a story - and a mission - because someone is waiting to hear it.
Send us a text
Everyone has a story, and yours can make a difference. In this series, we’ll explore how God wants to use your unique story to impact other people. Whether your story is dramatic, gradual, or messy, it’s part of something bigger—God’s story. You don’t need a perfect script, just a willing heart. If you've met Jesus, you have a story - and a mission - because someone is waiting to hear it.
Send us a text
Everyone has a story, and yours can make a difference. In this series, we’ll explore how God wants to use your unique story to impact other people. Whether your story is dramatic, gradual, or messy, it’s part of something bigger—God’s story. You don’t need a perfect script, just a willing heart. If you've met Jesus, you have a story - and a mission - because someone is waiting to hear it.
Send us a text
Everyone has a story, and yours can make a difference. In this series, we’ll explore how God wants to use your unique story to impact other people. Whether your story is dramatic, gradual, or messy, it’s part of something bigger—God’s story. You don’t need a perfect script, just a willing heart. If you've met Jesus, you have a story - and a mission - because someone is waiting to hear it.
Send us a text
Jesus said he came to “seek and save the lost” - which means that no one is too far gone for God. Not you. Not anyone. This series is built on the powerful truth that with Jesus, there are no lost causes. But that truth doesn’t end with us - it moves through us. As followers of Jesus, we’re called to carry this hope into the world. This series will challenge you to love, pray for, and invite your neighbors - not as projects, but as people God hasn’t given up on. Because if Jesus came back from the grave, then no one is beyond hope - and that’s a message worth sharing
Send us a text
Jesus said he came to “seek and save the lost” - which means that no one is too far gone for God. Not you. Not anyone. This series is built on the powerful truth that with Jesus, there are no lost causes. But that truth doesn’t end with us - it moves through us. As followers of Jesus, we’re called to carry this hope into the world. This series will challenge you to love, pray for, and invite your neighbors - not as projects, but as people God hasn’t given up on. Because if Jesus came back from the grave, then no one is beyond hope - and that’s a message worth sharing.
Send us a text
Jesus said he came to “seek and save the lost” - which means that no one is too far gone for God. Not you. Not anyone. This series is built on the powerful truth that with Jesus, there are no lost causes. But that truth doesn’t end with us - it moves through us. As followers of Jesus, we’re called to carry this hope into the world. This series will challenge you to love, pray for, and invite your neighbors - not as projects, but as people God hasn’t given up on. Because if Jesus came back from the grave, then no one is beyond hope - and that’s a message worth sharing.
Send us a text
Vision Sunday at The Village is a defining moment as we remember our initial vision, celebrate how far we've come, and invite every person who calls The Village home to step into what's next.
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As we wrap up this sermon series we sang and worshiped with a setlist of awesome worship songs! And we spent some time praying for our Teachers, Education Staff, & Students (All Ages) as they start a new year of school.
Setlist:
Everything That Has Breath (Praise) - By Jesus Culture
Take You At Your Word - By Cody Cranes
Greatly To Be Praised - By Gateway Worship
How Great Thou Art - By Shane & Shane
Trust In God - By Elevation Worship
'Tis So Sweet To Trust In Jesus - By Shane & Shane
Sing Of This - By Bethel Music
Praise - By Brandon Lake
Every summer has a soundtrack. There's a big hit or there's an album that gets worn out on the beach or on the road that becomes the soundtrack of the summer. Nothing says summer quite like a summer playlist. It sets the tone for all the sights and sounds of summer days and summer nights. This summer, we're going to look at the most famous playlist ever assembled, the book of Psalms. You might think of Psalms as just another book in the Bible, but to the people of ancient Israel, this was their go to playlist, their songbook, their favorite album for every season.
Send us a text
Every summer has a soundtrack. There's a big hit or there's an album that gets worn out on the beach or on the road that becomes the soundtrack of the summer. Nothing says summer quite like a summer playlist. It sets the tone for all the sights and sounds of summer days and summer nights. This summer, we're going to look at the most famous playlist ever assembled, the book of Psalms. You might think of Psalms as just another book in the Bible, but to the people of ancient Israel, this was their go to playlist, their songbook, their favorite album for every season.
Send us a text
Every summer has a soundtrack. There's a big hit or there's an album that gets worn out on the beach or on the road that becomes the soundtrack of the summer. Nothing says summer quite like a summer playlist. It sets the tone for all the sights and sounds of summer days and summer nights. This summer, we're going to look at the most famous playlist ever assembled, the book of Psalms. You might think of Psalms as just another book in the Bible, but to the people of ancient Israel, this was their go to playlist, their songbook, their favorite album for every season.
Send us a text
Every summer has a soundtrack. There's a big hit or there's an album that gets worn out on the beach or on the road that becomes the soundtrack of the summer. Nothing says summer quite like a summer playlist. It sets the tone for all the sights and sounds of summer days and summer nights. This summer, we're going to look at the most famous playlist ever assembled, the book of Psalms. You might think of Psalms as just another book in the Bible, but to the people of ancient Israel, this was their go to playlist, their songbook, their favorite album for every season.
Send us a text
Every summer has a soundtrack. There's a big hit or there's an album that gets worn out on the beach or on the road that becomes the soundtrack of the summer. Nothing says summer quite like a summer playlist. It sets the tone for all the sights and sounds of summer days and summer nights. This summer, we're going to look at the most famous playlist ever assembled, the book of Psalms. You might think of Psalms as just another book in the Bible, but to the people of ancient Israel, this was their go to playlist, their songbook, their favorite album for every season.
Send us a text
Every summer has a soundtrack. There's a big hit or there's an album that gets worn out on the beach or on the road that becomes the soundtrack of the summer. Nothing says summer quite like a summer playlist. It sets the tone for all the sights and sounds of summer days and summer nights. This summer, we're going to look at the most famous playlist ever assembled, the book of Psalms. You might think of Psalms as just another book in the Bible, but to the people of ancient Israel, this was their go to playlist, their songbook, their favorite album for every season.
Send us a text
Every summer has a soundtrack. There's a big hit or there's an album that gets worn out on the beach or on the road that becomes the soundtrack of the summer. Nothing says summer quite like a summer playlist. It sets the tone for all the sights and sounds of summer days and summer nights. This summer, we're going to look at the most famous playlist ever assembled, the book of Psalms. You might think of Psalms as just another book in the Bible, but to the people of ancient Israel, this was their go to playlist, their songbook, their favorite album for every season.
Send us a text
Every summer has a soundtrack. There's a big hit or there's an album that gets worn out on the beach or on the road that becomes the soundtrack of the summer. Nothing says summer quite like a summer playlist. It sets the tone for all the sights and sounds of summer days and summer nights. This summer, we're going to look at the most famous playlist ever assembled, the book of Psalms. You might think of Psalms as just another book in the Bible, but to the people of ancient Israel, this was their go to playlist, their songbook, their favorite album for every season.
Send us a text
Some of life's best memories happen around tables. Many of us have memories of chatting with family, sharing stories from the day, laughing together, having fun. We welcome guests at tables. We make important decisions at tables. For such a simple piece of furniture, tables have a prominent place in our lives.
Jesus did some of his best work at meals, around tables. In his book A Meal with Jesus, author Tim Chester says that most of Jesus' best ministry is either on the way to a meal, at a meal, or after a meal.
In fact, there are three ways the Gospels describe the mission and ministry of Jesus with the words "The Son of Man came..." One is to say "The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve." One is to say "The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost." And the third is to say "The Son of Man has come eating and drinking."
Luke's Gospel is filled with stories of Jesus eating with people. Each table Jesus shares has a different level of significance. There are tables of joy, tables of grace, tables of restoration, tables of hope, community, mission, promise. At each one, Jesus invites us to take another step in following him to experience life to the fullest.
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Senior Sunday
Some of life's best memories happen around tables. Many of us have memories of chatting with family, sharing stories from the day, laughing together, having fun. We welcome guests at tables. We make important decisions at tables. For such a simple piece of furniture, tables have a prominent place in our lives.
Jesus did some of his best work at meals, around tables. In his book A Meal with Jesus, author Tim Chester says that most of Jesus' best ministry is either on the way to a meal, at a meal, or after a meal.
In fact, there are three ways the Gospels describe the mission and ministry of Jesus with the words "The Son of Man came..." One is to say "The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve." One is to say "The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost." And the third is to say "The Son of Man has come eating and drinking."
Luke's Gospel is filled with stories of Jesus eating with people. Each table Jesus shares has a different level of significance. There are tables of joy, tables of grace, tables of restoration, tables of hope, community, mission, promise. At each one, Jesus invites us to take another step in following him to experience life to the fullest.
Send us a text
Mother's Day
Some of life's best memories happen around tables. Many of us have memories of chatting with family, sharing stories from the day, laughing together, having fun. We welcome guests at tables. We make important decisions at tables. For such a simple piece of furniture, tables have a prominent place in our lives.
Jesus did some of his best work at meals, around tables. In his book A Meal with Jesus, author Tim Chester says that most of Jesus' best ministry is either on the way to a meal, at a meal, or after a meal.
In fact, there are three ways the Gospels describe the mission and ministry of Jesus with the words "The Son of Man came..." One is to say "The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve." One is to say "The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost." And the third is to say "The Son of Man has come eating and drinking."
Luke's Gospel is filled with stories of Jesus eating with people. Each table Jesus shares has a different level of significance. There are tables of joy, tables of grace, tables of restoration, tables of hope, community, mission, promise. At each one, Jesus invites us to take another step in following him to experience life to the fullest.
Send us a text
Some of life's best memories happen around tables. Many of us have memories of chatting with family, sharing stories from the day, laughing together, having fun. We welcome guests at tables. We make important decisions at tables. For such a simple piece of furniture, tables have a prominent place in our lives.
Jesus did some of his best work at meals, around tables. In his book A Meal with Jesus, author Tim Chester says that most of Jesus' best ministry is either on the way to a meal, at a meal, or after a meal.
In fact, there are three ways the Gospels describe the mission and ministry of Jesus with the words "The Son of Man came..." One is to say "The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve." One is to say "The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost." And the third is to say "The Son of Man has come eating and drinking."
Luke's Gospel is filled with stories of Jesus eating with people. Each table Jesus shares has a different level of significance. There are tables of joy, tables of grace, tables of restoration, tables of hope, community, mission, promise. At each one, Jesus invites us to take another step in following him to experience life to the fullest.
We will kick off the summer season of 2025 this May by exploring the different tables of Jesus and thinking about how we can invite other people to experience the goodness of Jesus at our own tables.
The Widow's Offering
Celebrating the past year.
Looking at the Annual report and referencing that.
Challenging everyone to go "all in" with discipleship.
As our community heads back to school for a new year, we want to take time to encourage, celebrate and love our parents, students and teachers.
Prayer does two things: it changes things and it changes you. But it’s often one of the hardest things about following Jesus. How many times do we say “amen” and feel like the prayer was all about what we want or need, or that it was too simple, or too angry, or too ___ fill in the blank? Jesus gives us an example in the Lord’s Prayer - but that’s just the beginning! When you begin intentionally praying, you change. Your prayers change. And your relationship with Jesus changes.
If you’re a follower of Jesus, there are two sides of the coin for you. The firs is what Jesus has come as a missionary to do for you - to heal you, to forgive you, to restore you, to love you. The second is what Jesus has come to send you to do.
If you’re a follower of Jesus, there are two sides of the coin for you. The first is what Jesus has come as a missionary to do for you - to heal you, to forgive you, to restore you, to love you. The second is what Jesus has come to send you to do.
We’re celebrating all that God has done over the past year in and through The Village and looking forward to the year ahead. 2022 was a year filled with stories of God’s goodness and faithfulness. Every story and every number represents God’s faithfulness to you, to our church, to our community, and to the world. It is your generosity that fuels the mission of leading ordinary people to make disciples of Jesus who make disciples who make disciples. Together, we truly are changing the world!
In one of the few passages that talks about Jesus as a child, we learn that he grew in “wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man”. As Jesus was growing and maturing into a new phase in his life, he matured in four areas - relationally, physically, mentally, and spiritually. As we start a new year we spend a lot of time thinking about the past year, what we want to change, and the year ahead and how we want to live differently. Looking at the things that Jesus matured on can be a great guide for us today.
Jesus is what you've been looking for. He is a light for revelation. He is what you've been looking for, and he is the thing by which you can see everything else clearly. He reveals things and he is in himself a revelation. He is what you've been looking for all along but perhaps didn't know it.
New Year's Day is a day of reflection where we stop and ponder what we're looking for in the new year. It's true for us today like it was true for Simeon and Anna eight days after Jesus was born: Jesus is what you've been looking for.
We don’t talk about it often, but the Christmas story is filled with bad news. Bad news is the backdrop for the birth of Jesus. An unexpected and unusual pregnancy, an arduous journey, and no room at the inn. Everything that could go wrong, went wrong in this story. But then God shows up. God shows up in the middle of the mess to bring a promise of good news.
We all struggle with being told what to do and having to follow someone else’s rules for our lives - including God’s will for our lives. Zechariah found that surrendering to God’s will in his life actually brought him freedom. This week we dig into how Zechariah found freedom in the very thing that he thought was a restriction on his life.
Zechariah and Mary were both foretold of their child’s birth. Zechariah of his son, John the Baptist, and Mary of her son, Jesus. But Zechariah and Mary had very different responses after hearing the news. They both had questions - but their questions were different. Join us as we dive in and learn from them as we walk through Advent, anticipating the birth of Jesus.
This week, we are concluding our emphasis for this fall entitled "Rooted." The reality of your life is that you are rooted in something, and the roots of your life are inextricably linked to the fruits of your life. If you are rooted in the chaos and constant change of your circumstances, your life will reflect that. If you are rooted in the timeless truth and goodness of God in and through Jesus, your life will reflect that. Everyone is on a spiritual journey, and in this season, we have all been invited into a journey of deeper rootedness in Christ.
Following Jesus was never intended to be an individual exercise. It's deeply personal, but it's not private, it's not done alone. The imagery in the New Testament for the church is one of a body, all of the members playing their part in the functioning of the body. Just like your thumb can't choose to take a day off from being your thumb without it significantly impacting the function of your body, you can't just choose to take a day off from the church without it significantly impacting the rest of the body. We need each other. The Church is ultimately not something you attend, but it's a community in which you belong.
One of the hardest things to do when it comes to our Christian faith is to share our faith with other people. We fear rejection, we fear that we won't have the right words to say or the right answers to all the questions. Sometimes we hide the fact that we're followers of Jesus because we're afraid that our lives don't match up with our values. However, God has equipped each and every one of us with a story that's meant to be shared. God has uniquely placed you in the lives of other people with the purpose of sharing your story with them and inviting them into a life of following Jesus with you. Every person on the planet, including you, has a sphere of influence. Whether you believe it or not, the people you interact with on a regular basis are impacted by what you say, what you think, what you do, and how you live. God has placed you in that sphere of influence for a reason. Wherever you work, live, or play, God has placed you there to make an impact for the sake of his Kingdom.
One of the hardest things to do when it comes to our Christian faith is to share our faith with other people. We fear rejection, we fear that we won't have the right words to say or the right answers to all the questions. Sometimes we hide the fact that we're followers of Jesus because we're afraid that our lives don't match up with our values. However, God has equipped each and every one of us with a story that's meant to be shared. God has uniquely placed you in the lives of other people with the purpose of sharing your story with them and inviting them into a life of following Jesus with you. Every person on the planet, including you, has a sphere of influence. Whether you believe it or not, the people you interact with on a regular basis are impacted by what you say, what you think, what you do, and how you live. God has placed you in that sphere of influence for a reason. Wherever you work, live, or play, God has placed you there to make an impact for the sake of his Kingdom.
Jesus taught more on the topic of money than almost any other topic: prayer, faith, heaven and hell, sex, you name it, Jesus didn't talk about it as much as he talked about money. Why is that? Because Jesus knew the power that money can have in our lives, and he also knew the potential for good that money can unlock in the world when used for the sake of God's kingdom.
God's desire for you isn't just to be restored and redeemed (although that's a huge part of the story), God has also wired you and filled you with the Holy Spirit in a particular way to serve and redeem the community. You were created on purpose with a purpose, and discovering and living into that purpose will help you begin to experience true joy and fulfillment in life.
God's desire for you isn't just to be restored and redeemed (although that's a huge part of the story), God has also wired you and filled you with the Holy Spirit in a particular way to serve and redeem the community. You were created on purpose with a purpose, and discovering and living into that purpose will help you begin to experience true joy and fulfillment in life.
The Bible is clear on something that sounds foreign to our modern sensibilities: there is a real spiritual enemy who opposes the Kingdom of God and the followers of Jesus at every turn in their lives. We do ourselves a great disservice when we fail to recognize or choose to ignore this reality. When we recognize the real presence of the enemy and know how to withstand spiritual attacks, we begin to break the power that it has in our lives.
The Bible is clear on something that sounds foreign to our modern sensibilities: there is a real spiritual enemy who opposes the Kingdom of God and the followers of Jesus at every turn in their lives. We do ourselves a great disservice when we fail to recognize or choose to ignore this reality. When we recognize the real presence of the enemy and know how to withstand spiritual attacks, we begin to break the power that it has in our lives.
Looking at the one thing the disciples of Jesus ever asked him to teach them, and something we don’t always know how to do.
If there's a God that's so good, why is it that bad things happen? God never promises that there will be no suffering in life. Some people might think that once you choose to follow Jesus, it's smooth sailing from there and the challenges of life disappear. Some people say "everything happens for a reason" and that God causes all of the suffering in our lives in order to teach us something. Neither of those things are consistent with God's promises. God doesn't ever promise that we will not experience suffering. What God DOES promise is that we will never be alone in the suffering. God will always be with us. We can always bring our unfiltered cares and burdens to God, and when we do, we can receive the assurance of his presence with us.
Throughout history, God has demonstrated time and again his desire to communicate with us. There is story after story after story in the Bible of God communicating with people - speaking to them, encouraging them, warning them, calling them into something different, delivering messages through them. God is constantly reaching out. God continues to speak to us today. The primary question for us isn't "Is God speaking?" it's "Are we creating the time and the space to hear what God is saying?"
Throughout history, God has demonstrated time and again his desire to communicate with us. There is story after story after story in the Bible of God communicating with people - speaking to them, encouraging them, warning them, calling them into something different, delivering messages through them. God is constantly reaching out. God continues to speak to us today. The primary question for us isn't "Is God speaking?" it's "Are we creating the time and the space to hear what God is saying?"
All people, scholars and theologians included, have been wrestling with this basic question for thousands of years: who is God? While none of our words or images can adequately capture who God is, that doesn't mean we can't know things about God and it certainly doesn't mean we shouldn't try. God reveals himself to us through creation, through Scripture, and most fully and importantly in and through Jesus. What we think about when we think about God is the most important and influential thing we can think about!
You are rooted in something, and the roots of your life are inextricably linked to the fruits of your life. If you are rooted in the chaos and constant change of your circumstances, your life will reflect that. If you are rooted in the timeless truth and goodness of God in and through Jesus, your life will reflect that. Everyone is on a spiritual journey, and we are inviting you into a journey of deeper rootedness in Christ.
This is God’s kingdom. There is a king, and it’s not you. But do you know who you are? You are a child of the king, and that has massive implications for your life. So therefore: you have a royal identity, you have royal resources at your disposal, and you have royal responsibility.
Jesus talked about the topic of the "kingdom of God" more than any other topic, and one of his central teachings was "seek first the kingdom of God." If you're going to seek God first, if you're going to "seek first the kingdom of God" before other things, that means you have to seek first the king. There is no kingdom without a king.
As we start the fall and many of us begin the routine of a new school year, what are you seeking? What are you working toward? What are you striving for? What would happen in your life if you began to truly seek God first?
As we head back into a new school year we want to take time to acknowledge and pray for our teachers and students.
This summer our youth headed to Washington DC & Birmingham to love on the communities in need there, and to grow in their own faith.
This week our kids attended Camp Village Kids & learned that what you do today can change the world around you!
On a mountain, God provided in a way that only God can provide. The story of Abraham and Isaac.
The counterintuitive way to meet our infinite desires is to...stop. The biblical writers call this "Sabbath," something that Jesus practiced with regularity. Theologian Walter Brueggemann once wrote, “The Sabbath…announces that the world is safely in God’s hands. The world will not disintegrate if we stop our efforts. The world relies on God’s promises and not on our efforts.” Jesus invites us into his way of life, a life away from the constant cycle of hurry in order to meet our infinite desires and into a life of slowing and Sabbath.
Life satisfaction and overall happiness in the Western world has been dropping year over year for decades now even while things like the DOW run at record highs year over year. John Mark Comer writes, "One of the many reasons that happiness is dropping in the West even as the DOW is rising is because materialism has sped up our society to a frenetic, untenable pace." What if Jesus was right when he said, "Life does not consist in an abundance of possessions?” Jesus invites us into his way of life, a life away from the constant stress of materialism and the hurry it requires and into a life of simplicity.
What's the greatest challenge to your spiritual life today? Christian philosopher Dallas Willard was once asked, "What do I need to do to become the person I want to be?" Willard responded, "You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life. Hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life in our day.” We all understand this on a gut level: rather than leading us to experience more life, hurry is actually stealing our life from us. Jesus invites us into his way of life, a life away from hurry that leads to rest for our souls.
We all know about Easter and the power of the resurrection. But what happened right after Easter - and what does it mean for us?
We all know about Easter and the power of the resurrection. But what happened right after Easter - and what does it mean for us?
Join us as we celebrate the best true story ever told - the resurrection of Jesus. There is no stronger, more important, more life-changing message of hope that the one we celebrate on Easter! LIVE!
Join us as we celebrate the best true story ever told - the resurrection of Jesus. There is no stronger, more important, more life-changing message of hope that the one we celebrate on Easter!
If faith begins with the question, "Who do you say I am?" then it ends with this question: "Do you believe?”. After having seen and experienced Jesus, do you believe? Do you believe Jesus is who he says he is? Do you believe Jesus does what he says he does? Do you believe Jesus offers what he says he offers? "Do you believe" is the final step of faith, one where it moves from an intellectual exercise to a life-changing relationship.
In his life and ministry, Jesus paints a beautiful picture of what life is like in the Kingdom of God and what a life filled with God's goodness can look like. But we can't simply agree with it intellectually and expect it to change anything in our lives. If you want the change in your life that Jesus makes possible, it's not the thought that counts. You have to actually begin to do the things that Jesus says to do in order to go to the places that Jesus makes it possible for you to go.
Sermon description: Not everything that promises to make us well in life delivers on its promises, or if it does, it often doesn't deliver to the extent that we were hoping. Not everyone who is unwell wants to be made well. Jesus has the power and the willingness to heal those who come to him in search of true healing. The question for us is, do you really want to get better, or are you content looking elsewhere for what only Jesus can fully offer?
This feels like a critical question for this cultural moment, but it's not a new question or a new problem: we all have a tendency to look out the window at the problems and shortcomings of others before looking in the mirror at our own. Look at the polarizing and divisiveness in our society, things like "cancel culture" and the backlash to cancel culture where people deride cancel culture by canceling the people who cancel other people (whew, that's a lot), and you see that this question has not lost its power or relevance.
We can listen to a lot of voices in life that will lead us in different directions. Jesus consistently points back to one source as the primary source of all knowledge, wisdom, and direction: Scripture. All influential Christian thinkers and leaders throughout the centuries whose influence has lasted have pointed back to the primacy of Scripture. When a religious leader approaches Jesus and asks him "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus responds, "What is written in the law? Do this and you will live."
Of all the questions that Jesus asks his disciples, this is the one that sets the foundation and the direction for all the other questions. How you answer this question impacts how you answer every other question that Jesus asks and how you relate to everything that Jesus said and did. If Jesus was who he said he was, "the Messiah, the Son of the Living God," then that has implications for every single area of our lives.
The power in Ash Wednesday comes through honesty. How honest are you willing to be? How honest are you willing to be to God and to yourself about yourself? Until we just get brutally honest about our own sinfulness and brokenness and depravity and our mortality, we can never unlock the power of the solution. Until we admit that there's a real sickness, we can never unlock the power of the cure. But don't stop there! If that's all you see, you haven't seen the Gospel! The Gospel is this: you are ridiculously, unconditionally loved by God. Your value in the eyes of God isn't based on your performance. The love of God isn't based on your ups and downs, it's solid when you're shaky, it's consistent when you're inconsistent, it's unconditional when you're undeserving
We’re supposed to love how we’re loved. John says, “This is how love is made complete among us…in this world we are like Jesus." If you don't love the way that you've been loved, then you're not understanding how much you're loved. Once you really understand how much God loves you, it changes everything about how you love. Being loved like that makes you love like that.
The foundation for everything in life is to realize how deeply and fully and wholly we are loved by God regardless of anything we can do or say. Your first love is the love that God has for you, and once understood it paves the way and lays the foundation for every other experience of love that you have in life.
We’re celebrating all that God has done over the past year in and through The Village, and looking forward to the year ahead. “Church” is a team sport, but it takes the faithful contributions of each individual to make it all that it can be, and you all have made such a difference in the community over the past year by your prayers, your encouragement, your generosity, your kindness, and your invitation for people to join you on the journey. And as we look ahead, we can ask ourselves “So what? Now what?”
Brian Hicks, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Harvest Hands & Humphreys Street Coffee joins us to share stories of how God has been at work in south Nashville through Harvest Hands, and about how the coffee we drink on Sundays is changing lives!
There are a lot of paradoxes in life. Some are in the form of a question that make you scratch your head, such as "Can God make a rock so big that he can't move it?" Other paradoxes include the more you learn, the more you realize how little you know, change is the only constant, and talk less to say more.
There's one paradox that stands at the pinnacle of importance in terms of experiencing the good life, and it comes from Jesus himself: "For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it." In the end, the true good life is a surrendered life, a life fully surrendered to Jesus
People throughout the centuries have been talking about the topic of generosity as a means to achieve the good life. St. Francis of Assisi once said, "For it is in giving that we receive." Winston Churchill once said, "We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give." In the New Testament, in the book of Acts chapter 20, the Apostle Paul quotes Jesus himself in saying, "It is more blessed to give than to receive."
A couple years ago, Jenni Santi wrote a book entitled The Giving Way to Happiness: The Science Behind the Life-Changing Power of Giving, and in the book she writes, "Scientific research provides compelling data to support the anecdotal evidence that giving is a powerful pathway to personal growth and lasting happiness. Experiments show evidence that altruism is hardwired in the brain—and it’s pleasurable. Helping others may just be the secret to living a life that is not only happier but also healthier, wealthier, more productive, and meaningful.
The phrase “a new year, a new you” is thrown around a lot this time of year. Now that’s a lofty resolution! New exercise plans, new eating, new hobbies, new relationships, new parenting tactics, new careers… We’re constantly trying to obtain the good life. Did we pick the right resolutions? Will we be able to keep up with them? Will all of those resolutions get us to the finish line? Long before there were ever new year’s resolutions, Jesus told his followers that he came to show them what the good life really looked like. Join us for this series as we look at what Jesus said about how to really live the good life and the keys to experience it!
The phrase “a new year, a new you” is thrown around a lot this time of year. Now that’s a lofty resolution! New exercise plans, new eating, new hobbies, new relationships, new parenting tactics, new careers… We’re constantly trying to obtain the good life. Did we pick the right resolutions? Will we be able to keep up with them? Will all of those resolutions get us to the finish line? Long before there were ever new year’s resolutions, Jesus told his followers that he came to show them what the good life really looked like. Join us for this series as we look at what Jesus said about how to really live the good life and the keys to experience it!
On this first Sunday of the new year, we look to the words of Jesus and John Wesley (founder of the Methodist movement) for guidance on how to start the new year the right way.
No one can deny that we’ve been in a time that feels like darkness. Natural disasters, ongoing pandemic, fighting and division. Even the days themselves are shorter and darker. But for two thousand years, Christmas is and has been a season of light in the darkness. Jesus himself said, “I am the light of the world!” No matter how dark it gets, the story of Christmas is that there is always a light on the way. Jesus told his followers, “You are the light of the world,” and this Christmas season is an opportunity like no other for us to shine the light of Jesus to the world around us.
No one can deny that we’ve been in a time that feels like darkness. Natural disasters, ongoing pandemic, fighting and division. Even the days themselves are shorter and darker. But for two thousand years, Christmas is and has been a season of light in the darkness. Jesus himself said, “I am the light of the world!” No matter how dark it gets, the story of Christmas is that there is always a light on the way. Jesus told his followers, “You are the light of the world,” and this Christmas season is an opportunity like no other for us to shine the light of Jesus to the world around us.
No one can deny that we’ve been in a time that feels like darkness. Natural disasters, ongoing pandemic, fighting and division. Even the days themselves are shorter and darker. But for two thousand years, Christmas is and has been a season of light in the darkness. Jesus himself said, “I am the light of the world!” No matter how dark it gets, the story of Christmas is that there is always a light on the way. Jesus told his followers, “You are the light of the world,” and this Christmas season is an opportunity like no other for us to shine the light of Jesus to the world around us.
No one can deny that we’ve been in a time that feels like darkness. Natural disasters, ongoing pandemic, fighting and division. Even the days themselves are shorter and darker. But for two thousand years, Christmas is and has been a season of light in the darkness. Jesus himself said, “I am the light of the world!” No matter how dark it gets, the story of Christmas is that there is always a light on the way. Jesus told his followers, “You are the light of the world,” and this Christmas season is an opportunity like no other for us to shine the light of Jesus to the world around us.
No one can deny that we’ve been in a time that feels like darkness. Natural disasters, ongoing pandemic, fighting and division. Even the days themselves are shorter and darker. But for two thousand years, Christmas is and has been a season of light in the darkness. Jesus himself said, “I am the light of the world!” No matter how dark it gets, the story of Christmas is that there is always a light on the way. Jesus told his followers, “You are the light of the world,” and this Christmas season is an opportunity like no other for us to shine the light of Jesus to the world around us.
Church. There are a lot of images that come into our minds when we hear that word. A tall steeple. A red brick building. Rows of pews facing a pipe organ attached to the wall. At The Village, we are headed into our last four weeks together without a church building, and while we're really excited about the building, there’s something really important that we shouldn't forget: the church is not about the building. It never has been. It never should be. At its core, church is the people. More specifically, it's the people who are gathered and united around Jesus. It's the people who are inhabited by God's Spirit. It's the people who are joining Jesus in his mission to reach, love, and serve the world. Church isn't a building. Church isn't a place you go. We are the church.
Church. There are a lot of images that come into our minds when we hear that word. A tall steeple. A red brick building. Rows of pews facing a pipe organ attached to the wall. At The Village, we are headed into our last four weeks together without a church building, and while we're really excited about the building, there’s something really important that we shouldn't forget: the church is not about the building. It never has been. It never should be. At its core, church is the people. More specifically, it's the people who are gathered and united around Jesus. It's the people who are inhabited by God's Spirit. It's the people who are joining Jesus in his mission to reach, love, and serve the world. Church isn't a building. Church isn't a place you go. We are the church.
Church. There are a lot of images that come into our minds when we hear that word. A tall steeple. A red brick building. Rows of pews facing a pipe organ attached to the wall. At The Village, we are headed into our last four weeks together without a church building, and while we're really excited about the building, there’s something really important that we shouldn't forget: the church is not about the building. It never has been. It never should be. At its core, church is the people. More specifically, it's the people who are gathered and united around Jesus. It's the people who are inhabited by God's Spirit. It's the people who are joining Jesus in his mission to reach, love, and serve the world. Church isn't a building. Church isn't a place you go. We are the church.
Church. There are a lot of images that come into our minds when we hear that word. A tall steeple. A red brick building. Rows of pews facing a pipe organ attached to the wall. At The Village, we are headed into our last four weeks together without a church building, and while we're really excited about the building, there’s something really important that we shouldn't forget: the church is not about the building. It never has been. It never should be. At its core, church is the people. More specifically, it's the people who are gathered and united around Jesus. It's the people who are inhabited by God's Spirit. It's the people who are joining Jesus in his mission to reach, love, and serve the world. Church isn't a building. Church isn't a place you go. We are the church.