Verde Valley Christian Church - Sermon Podcast: Recent Episodes
Verde Valley Christian Church
Welcome to the Verde Valley Christian Church audio podcast. Whether your familiar with church or not these messages are intended to help you take steps forward so that you can move from wherever you are to where God wants you to be. Check out www.vvcc.online for more.
To insert a new habit you need to establish a “habit cycle” that includes three things: a cue, a routine, and a reward.
Habits need to be small enough that you will actually do them. Take time to make sure your steps are stupidly small, so that you will do them.
“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” –Jim Elliot
The Overflowing Life: As you receive God's blessing, you are being a blessing to others.
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
I know I am not consistently kind because my pride gets in the way, “but God gives us more grace”. That is why I will humble myself before God, because God “shows favor to the humble”.
We are by God’s design his servants. When we live to please God, our Lord is honored and we are blessed. When we live as though our chief aim is to please ourselves, God is dishonored, and we dishonor ourselves as well.
Galatians 5:1 "For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery."
God will not deliver you from your problem until you agree that it is a problem and ask him for help.
A few simple instructions, and practical steps to get us on course, or keep us on course.
Who’s on center stage of your life, you need to ask yourselves “Who am I living life FOR?”
The Land Between - where life is not as it once was and where the future is in question.
"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." ~2 Timothy 4:7
Not all stories of courage end well. Paul’s story didn’t. He was about to be executed and he knew it. Paul eased his own mind and the mind of others when he wrote that God was able to guard the Gospel. Paul’s loyalty to God above all else gave him peace and courage.
Your grip is not firm on the GOOD NEWS until you are LIVING IT! When your ongoing experience is really good news, sharing it in a compelling way is not difficult.
For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.
“Faithfulness to God is our first obligation in all that we are called to do in the service of the gospel.”
Join us as we follow Mary Magdalene through her deadly difficulty, a crisis of faith, to God’s Lively Solution, hers, yours, and my resurrected Lord!
Today is Palm SUNDAY; the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem as king, the long anticipated Christ/Messiah who would deliver them and set them free. Today is not our focus day. Today we focus on CONFLICT TUESDAY.
Proverbs 3:5 (ESV) Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
Proverbs 1:7 (CSB) The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and discipline.
Proverbs 26:12 (NIV) Do you see a person wise in their own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for them.
As God is gracious toward us who are undeserving, we are to be gracious to the undeserving.
You don’t have to be a believer in God to recognize that being kind is a great character quality. We are going to look at some great character qualities in this series.
GOD’S PROMISES are how you take steps through that seemingly insurmountable gap. How you build a promising life is to RECEIVE God’s promises, REJOICE in them, REMEMBER them, and REHEARSE them.
To experience a promising year, like this series is describing, is to live by faith in our promise making, promise keeping God.
Do you want to rejoice? You need to go on a treasure hunt for God’s promises. A “treasure hunt” implies that finding is not by accident.
Faith in God’s promises is NOT just something that takes place in your heart and mind. Believing God’s promises produces a changed perspective, attitude, and actions.
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16-17
The first Christmas was when the eternal Son of God, the King of Heaven, removed his regal robes of radiance to clothe himself in humility as the Son of Man in order to come and set us free. He did this to make it possible for us to remove our filthy rags and put on His garments of glory!
Jesus doesn’t want a place in your life; He wants your whole life. Jesus desires, deserves, and demands preeminence! Don’t just give Jesus a place in your life; Jesus is your life. Seek, Set, Live! He’s your everything!
When you are ROOTED, And FILLED every DISTRACTION LOSES ATTRACTION!!! Christ is MORE than SUFFICIENT!
What you believe about Christ makes all the difference in the world both now and for all of eternity.
Our hope of glory is Christ. It is still a mystery to outsiders, it is revealed to us, yet it is not a secret, This GOOD NEWS is available to you!
I know someone who can fill the emptiness inside. His name is Jesus. Today we learn that who he is, is what made what he did, possible.
We need to place our faith entirely on the adequacy of Jesus to fill us completely and make us whole. Nothing else can or will do this.
You are either shaped by the world or the word. You actually have been choosing your shape by what you do and what you don’t do.
The purpose of training in God’s word is to move from “Information” to “Transformation”. Take in God’s word, and Process it.
God’s Word is as important to your Spiritual life as food is to your physical life. Are you spiritually starving without realizing it? Take it in!
Mature love for Jesus causes us to want to please him with a love for others that blesses him, and looks like his love. So, we even learn how to love people who are not lovely, or easy to love.
We are a Christ Centered Community. That's a centripetal community, moving to the center.
It seems like everywhere we look, everyone is yelling at each other. We seem more divided than ever. Ultimately, we need to develop a Christian perspective on the raging, screaming culture.
In such a world as ours, in a massive haystack of intentionally planted misinformation, & excessive information, to bury the truth, the temptation is to give up on truth. Don’t do it. We are truth seekers! Keep seeking and you will find.
If you aren’t talking about Jesus with others very much, the first thing to do is fill your heart with more of Jesus!
We believe that saved people serve people. God hasn’t just saved us from something, but for something… to make disciples and partner with God to populate the Kingdom. The church is called to be a rescue ship in this world, not a cruise ship.
Doing life together is God’s plan A for your growth, for your sanctification. It’s how you become more like Jesus. You won’t grow to be more like Jesus just by reading about him any more than you will grow muscles by watching you tube videos on weight lifting. You’ve got to practice what you are learning with other believers as you do life together.
Everyone spends 24 hours every day. Time, like money, is limited, and every “Yes” spent in time is a “No” to something else.
There is nothing more central to our faith than Jesus, and there is nothing more central to his teaching than Jesus’ teaching about the first and greatest commandment.
Do you have a day that is different from every other day of the week as it relates to God? Jesus did.
Our spiritual rhythms require intentionality. And yet when we look more closely even at our bodily rhythms we discover that these are not as automatic as we might think.
Life comes from God. Physical life comes from God. Spiritual life comes from God. Breath is life. Life and breath is miraculous and mysterious.
Some people think covenant keeping is a grind. It’s not! Life is a grind until we learn how to be covenant keepers.
“The new covenant is God’s revelation of who He is, and His perfect and complete plan to restore all who would enter into covenant with Him to their created purpose of intimacy of relationship with Him and with one another.”
Some people think of the Old Covenant as a covenant of “Works” and the New Covenant as a covenant of “Grace” but all the Covenants God gave us are covenants of grace & responsibility.
God is a relational covenant making, covenant keeping God. The story of Biblical faith is a story of a covenant relationship that God carefully established in stages ultimately culminating in the New Covenant Jesus established as an adequate, permanent, and eternal solution to the root problems of our lives.
...we face a dark time in the history of God's people. In spite of some encouraging signs, the forces of evil seem to be gathering for a colossal assault on the work of God in the world. Satan has unleashed his power in a way perhaps unparalleled in the history of the Christian Church. If ever there was a time we needed renewal, it is now. Billy Graham, p. 318 “The Holy Spirit”, 1978.
1 Corinthians 6:19 (Phillips) “ Have you forgotten that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you, and that you are not the owner of your own body? You have been bought, and at what a price!”
When you are filled with the Spirit, you are filled with an overflowing supply of grace, everything you need for a good and beautiful life that pleases God.
Today we will consider two categories. The category of being spiritually lost, and the category of being Saved and how it relates to our series theme “His Presence”.
The Bible is one continuous story of the extent to which God will go to make it possible to be close to us.
Jesus followers are part of a legacy of faithful people. When things are crazy in our world, we can confidently rest in the knowledge that many followers of Jesus throughout history have endured difficult times & God has taken care of them.
Unlike any other faith in the world, this movement took off within 50 days of the crucifixion of its founder because the evidence demanded a verdict that he had actually risen from the dead.
We sometimes misunderstand God in the disappointments of life. But we only have part of the story. God will work out the rest of the story as you keep trusting him.
Many people see the cross as tragedy; many others see the message of the cross as foolishness; only a few see the cross as victory.
From Luke 15, it is amazing how clear God's love is for us. He pursues and pursues but is also willing to patiently wait to pursue.
The door into the Kingdom of God is a very important topic, don’t you think? You can not only know how to get into the Kingdom of God, you can become certain that you are in. AND You don’t have to wait till you die first to know for sure.
Jesus knew a clash of kingdoms was taking place and it would be intense, but the battle was NOT going to be waged with weapons of this world. The Kingdom will win the battle JESUS’ style!
We tend to think in terms of “believing” it before “living” it but Jesus advocates if you want to “know it” you have to “live it” first.
"God's forgiveness extends to the worst offenders and to anyone who wishes to receive it -- not because of who we are, but because of who He is." - Charles Swindoll
Today we learn the certainty that Jesus is pursuing us, and calling us to a life of love.
Investigating to know the truth is what Luke was about. This is what this whole series is all about. Knowing the truth is what I invite you to be about. It is why Luke wrote.
What if we could know with certainty what lays beyond death in the hereafter? If we could know this with certainty would you want to know?
That’s what this series is all about.
So many people think they will happiest when they pour into their own life what they think will make them happy. But sometimes it doesn’t work the way they expect.
Psalm 2 is going to show us how to be happy even in a world filled with rage, a relevant topic for us to consider even today.
When you are not as happy as you would like to be, what do you do? When you are bored what is the first thing you turn to? When you are not quite coping the way you would like to be coping, what do you do to elevate your outlook?
It seems like more than ever we need better strategies than the common strategies.
God is reaching for you! He gave his one and only Son. He held nothing back and gave his all.
If you have questioned hope, if you haven’t felt it, or if you haven’t even searched for it. This message is for you. Because even when you can’t, hope hopes for you. Hope always exists. Why? Hope has a name. Jesus.
Solid and reliable HOPE is based on confidence in God whose goodness and mercy are to be relied on and whose promises cannot fail (see Hebrews 6:17-20).
You are a little part of a very powerful and grand design. You have been designed to engage with God.
One of our responsibilities as believers is pursuing and knowing where our brothers and sisters are. We are to pursue relationally. Another one of our responsibilities or practices as believers in Jesus is letting our brothers and sisters know where WE ARE…
When talking with a person about a problem, don’t just give your opinions. First ask yourself, Has God already spoken directly about this in His Word? If so, what has He said? If not, is there a general biblical principle that needs to be considered? The deeper your dependence on the Word of God, the wiser you will be.
We Devote Daily to receive love and grace from God. Our life fills up. Then we share love and grace with others. He blesses us to be a blessing.
The greater success we have in crucifying the flesh and surrendering our will to the will of our Heavenly Father, the closer we get to our created purpose of intimacey of relationship with our Creator.
And if you are in Christ’s Kingdom, who is on your prayer list that is far from God? It is time to engage in Christ’s mission.
The church is not the gathered assembly. We are the church. We gather and scatter to gather others to Jesus!
King Jesus is a better king than we will ever be of our own lives. Submitting to his authority is our only hope. This is always true, no matter how well you think you are doing.
In Matthew 16, Jesus asked his disciples “Who do you say that I am?” Peter gave the answer “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Christ affirmed his correct answer. He’s the long awaited coming King, the Christ, the Messiah, (the Spirit Anointed one to reign forever) as prophesied in the Old Testament!
2 Corinthians 2:15 (NIV2011) For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.
God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. What God wants is for us to agree that we need a savior. We need confession. We have deep problems and we need a grace deep enough to cure us. This is found only in Jesus.
When you can’t see your own sin as a deep problem, that’s a deep problem. How do we wake up to the problem?
When you can’t see your own sin as a deep problem, that’s a deep problem. How do we wake up to the problem?
What does it look like to earnestly seek God? Everyday Faith is a faith that earnestly seeks God every day in everyday ways. Daily, and in everything.
What does it look like to earnestly seek God? Everyday Faith is a faith that earnestly seeks God every day in everyday ways. Daily, and in everything.
What does it look like to earnestly seek God? Everyday Faith is a faith that earnestly seeks God every day in everyday ways. Daily, and in everything.
What does it look like to earnestly seek God? Everyday Faith is a faith that earnestly seeks God every day in everyday ways. Daily, and in everything.
Whether we are speaking about our brother and sister, our neighbor, or our enemies, at some point they will disagree with us, oppose us, and even hurt us, but Jesus would have us love them anyway. Clearly this kind of love runs from a deeper source than ourselves. Let’s learn why we are to love anyway, and how to do this.
Whether we are speaking about our brother and sister, our neighbor, or our enemies, at some point they will disagree with us, oppose us, and even hurt us, but Jesus would have us love them anyway. Clearly this kind of love runs from a deeper source than ourselves. Let’s learn why we are to love anyway, and how to do this.
Whether we are speaking about our brother and sister, our neighbor, or our enemies, at some point they will disagree with us, oppose us, and even hurt us, but Jesus would have us love them anyway. Clearly this kind of love runs from a deeper source than ourselves. Let’s learn why we are to love anyway, and how to do this.
There is no doubt that what we are going through is a challenge. There is so much bad news coming our direction. How do we navigate this? When things go out of your control and you are struggling, what do you do to cope?
During difficult times, we are making choices all the time. These choices usually go in one of two directions. We will either, 1) work to get closer to Jesus, and draft behind him or 2) we will take our foot off the gas and drift away, with Jesus no longer even within our view.
We need to fight to keep a faith perspective. We need to fight to keep a good attitude. We need to have an attitude like Jesus. If we want to follow Jesus, we need to carry our cross, follow him, and love people right here and now in times like these. We need to stay positive
We need to fight to keep a faith perspective. We need to fight to keep a good attitude. We need to have an attitude like Jesus. If we want to follow Jesus, we need to carry our cross, follow him, and love people right here and now in times like these. We need to stay positive.
We need to fight to keep a faith perspective. We need to fight to keep a good attitude. We need to have an attitude like Jesus. If we want to follow Jesus, we need to carry our cross, follow him, and love people right here and now in times like these. We need to stay positive
When today’s darkness screams that tomorrow will be dark too, trust the keeper of tomorrow, he is bright and will displace the darkness.
od’s care is constant, regardless of what is happening around us to make us feel otherwise. “His steadfast love endures forever.”
Whether you are feeling it now, or not, you will feel tough times some time, so this is a message that we all need. Some just need it more right now than others.
Some hard questions are like barriers between us and God, but what if these barriers that block our way are actually signposts that point the way?
Some hard questions are like barriers between us and God, but what if these barriers that block our way are actually signposts that point the way?
Nearly everyone has encountered hard questions that seem like barriers between us and God, but what if there are answers that can transform barriers that block our way into signposts that point the way?
Nearly everyone has encountered hard questions about what followers of Jesus believe. These hard questions become barriers between people and God. But what if there are answers that can transform barriers that block our way into signposts that point the way?
As we navigate these very unusual circumstances globally and locally, every one of us feels the impact. “Do Not Be Afraid” is a series designed to help us understand how faith is the antidote to fear, and worship is the antidote to worry. Join us through a series of messages designed to help us along the way during this storm. Because Jesus is in our boat, Jesus will bring us through it!
As we navigate these very unusual circumstances globally and locally, every one of us feels the impact. “Do Not Be Afraid” is a series designed to help us understand how faith is the antidote to fear, and worship is the antidote to worry. Join us through a series of messages designed to help us along the way during this storm. Because Jesus is in our boat, Jesus will bring us through it!
As we navigate these very unusual circumstances globally and locally, every one of us feels the impact. “Do Not Be Afraid” is a series designed to help us understand how faith is the antidote to fear, and worship is the antidote to worry. Join us through a series of messages designed to help us along the way during this storm. Because Jesus is in our boat, Jesus will bring us through it!
There is only one fear that can displace all other fears, and that one fear is light that displaces all darkness. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
We are a church with these 5 core statements.
- Love God Wholeheartedly.
- Do First Things First.
- Don’t Do Life Alone.
- Saved People Serve People.
- Followers say, “Follow Me.”
We don’t check off our core statements like a task list. These core statements are ongoing as we live with eternal significance every day from wherever we are … to where God wants us to be.
Covenant Keeping affects EVERY relationship. Because God loved us, we can love our spouse. Because God loved us when we were alienated and far from him, covenant keeping means loving others even when they are alienated and far from him. Covenant keeping means we love even when someone is less than lovely, or lovable.
Christ is in the rescue business. He rescues and delivers people out of the kingdom of darkness and ushers them into freedom from bondage to sin. We become his servants in his kingdom. We have an enemy who does not like that.
Each of us lives our life centered around someone or something. Who or what is your life centered around?
Whatever is the CENTER of your life will define and shape who you are. It will shape your values and beliefs, your actions and decisions, your influence and your impact.
Narrowing your attention fixes your focus. Do you want clarity of vision? Love God Wholeheartedly, and everything becomes crystal clear!
“You can effect life change with a change of your habits, but you cannot have God honoring transformation that has eternal significance without the Word of God and the leading and empowering of the Holy Spirit.”
Never underestimate how our God can start something big through one small habit! Our God loves to take small acts of faithfulness and do something special through those things.
People who are doing well, whether it be relationally, physically, financially, or spiritually, are people who have learned how to do small disciplines consistently that pay off in big ways over time.
Each of us has a tendency to take control in some unhealthy ways. Yet, taking control in unhealthy ways is very difficult for us to see in ourselves. Let’s look into the mirror of God’s Word and learn to see ourselves better and to let go of some unhealthy control.
In a busy holiday season, it’s common for people to feel weighed down. Sometimes we carry weight that God never intended that we carry. His solution is simple: Let go of the baggage and travel light.
Are you accumulating on Earth what you cannot keep? Or are you investing in Heaven what you cannot lose?
People in our community need to know that Jesus is FOR them. As a church, we need to show them that we are FOR them.
In order to be FOR our world, our posture needs to shift. Our selfishness needs to give way to selflessness.
To answer the question, “Who Is My Neighbor?” Jesus told the parable of the good Samaritan. Sometimes the easiest thing to do when it comes to those around us who are marginalized, vulnerable, or hurting is to stay blissfully ignorant of the things they are going through. Jesus challenges us to do so much more.
Firm centers are what we believe to be true regarding life and godliness. A firm center is what keeps us connected to God. Soft edges are how we relate to people with a different center than our own. Soft edges look like compassion, forgiveness, graciousness, tenderheartedness, loving-kindness, sympathy, humility, tolerance and patience.
If people are going to know that Jesus is for them, they need to know that we are for them.
The Bible’s answers to the questions about life after death are very intriguing, exciting, and most of all comforting.
As we look through the lens of revelation that was spoken about in week 1, we actually change our perspective from a depressing subject to an encouraging subject.
Light and darkness do not mix. Light displaces darkness. It is Hell’s will to take people away from God. It is Heaven’s will to draw people to God. Darkness does not accept light nor light accept darkness.
Repentance is more than saying, “I feel bad.” Repentance is admitting you were wrong, and that you have a change of thinking that leads you to new actions you are ready to move in. It means a turning point. A turning back to God.
There will always be a battle in your mind. Let Jesus win the battle. Take the thoughts captive, and let Jesus replace them with truth, because when you know the truth, the truth will set you free.
“Don’t interpret God through your circumstances, but instead interpret your circumstances through the goodness of God”
Although science is catching up with ancient theology with regard to how the right thoughts can renew and change our lives, believers have a huge advantage because we have divinely powerful weapons to deconstruct the negative dominant thoughts in our minds.
If you want to be set free from dominating thoughts that have a strong hold on you, you need to take these thoughts captive, and make them obedient to Christ, the truths he taught.
How we spend our time is really about how we live, and what our life is about. With the Lord’s help we choose well, and manage well, and enjoy life to the full. But watch out, we have an enemy who loves to steal the important stuff from our lives. Sometimes he does this by loading us up with urgent stuff.
Discipline is hard, but regret is harder, whether you know it or not. A negative way of looking at Discipline is that it is choosing a lessor pain over a greater pain. A positive way of looking at it, is that you can learn to look at discipline as something you have learned to love and look forward to.
One of the most difficult but important choices we can make is to resist our tendency to try and control everything and instead surrender our plans to God. As followers of Jesus, this is what we are called to do every day.
Our aim for the approval of others will keep us from the purposes of God. Our aim for the approval of God will cause us to love and serve others.
Our perspective, our expectation, makes such a difference on how we face challenges. If a challenge is unexpected, we face it differently. It might be appropriate to say, “Don’t worry when you’re persecuted for your faith, worry when you’re not.”
Do you know God is calling you to something? For some that sounds exciting and exhilarating? To others that sounds frightening. Regardless how this idea feels to you right now, let me assure you that this is a really important topic for us. Almost every New Testament writer writes about God’s Calling on our lives.
Sometimes in our culture we are treated like foreigners or strangers, alien to mainstream culture because our values and beliefs are DIFFERENT.
At the deepest level of our discouragement, our peace and joy is not based upon the circumstances, but upon our loving Heavenly Father who rules the circumstances. It is only by His grace that we can have rest in the midst of the discouragement, knowing that we are His children and He has promised to never leave us or forsake us.
Spiritually speaking, what purpose or calling do you need to return to? Opposition or difficulty isn’t always a sign that God is against you, often it can be a sign that you are doing exactly what God wants you to do.
When we EMPTY ourselves, we are in the perfect position to be FILLED by God’s grace and to be used by him.
Our efforts to present an outward show of goodness can deceive us! We tend to believe our own show! Jesus exposes the mask and what is under the mask.
God is not interested in worship from people who worship with their lips but whose hearts are far from Him.
By far the most dangerous foe we have to fight is apathy - indifference from whatever cause, not from a lack of knowledge, but from carelessness, from absorption in other pursuits, from a contempt bred of self-satisfaction.
~William Osler
Most of us believe if we had more of something—we would be satisfied. How much do you need to be happy?
Feeling distant from God? God hasn’t moved. Feeling confused? Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.
Addictions are part of a larger problem. The real problem is idolatry. We have set up a false god we think we need to function - without this, we don’t feel alive.
Today, we will hear some really bad advice. Nobody would think it is good advice, but then we must ask ourselves, if that is the case, then, why do people follow this plan as if it is good advice?
The resurrection was an epicenter flashpoint that set off a powerful chain reaction that continues to this day. It follows the pattern of both fusion and fission by “merging” with Christ then “splitting” resurrection life from person to person.
We follow an invincible leader who was able to overcome the largest gathering of spiritual darkness imaginable!
Serving is not what I do, a SERVANT is who I am! Serving isn’t just about ACTIONS; it’s about ATTITUDES.
By nature we cling to sin. And as a result we clutch crutches, any support we can find to prop us up, to somehow make life work even while we cling to sin.
But Jesus is better than any crutch!
If you are a Jesus follower, Jesus gives you his power to move in his mission also. And as you wait, pray, and experience God’s power, you will have ample opportunity to explain your experience in Christ.
Following Jesus isn’t primarily defined by unanimous agreement on all the correct doctrines, but by trusting Jesus who is the center of our faith, and moving in his Good news, and moving his Good News into the lives of others.
God’s standard is incredibly high when it comes to purity. Impurity is poison. Stay away from poison. We think the line of sin starts with adultery…but Jesus backs up the sin line long before the adultery line. He talks about it from the start on the inside long before the act on the outside.
God built the idea of Pursuit into the definition of both the Marriage COVENANT, and our COVENANT with God, which it reflects. We are to PURSUE, to be UNITED. We are to cling to, adhere to, catch by pursuit, and pursue hard after with affection and devotion in both of these COVENANT relationships.
Don’t make the mistake of putting your spouse, or future spouse on a pedestal, asking them to fulfill all your needs. That’s too much pressure for any human being. Only God can be your #1 who can meet your needs, and bring fulfillment.
Jesus SHOWED that the way you become great in the kingdom of God is never by self-promotion, it is always by serving!
It is not too late for you to speak more boldly to people you know and love, even if you have been too silent. We need to set our hearts above!
If God is with us, why don’t I sense his presence? Don’t you think this is a really important question? I believe this question is what the whole Bible is all about!
Sometimes Jesus calms the storm. Sometimes Jesus calms you while in the storm. Peace is not the absence of a storm. Peace is found in the presence of Jesus.
We enjoy Him on the mountaintops; we get to know Him in the valleys; we are trained by Him in the wilderness.
Enthusiasm is not a commodity that is elevated by our environment as much as it is a wellspring of the heart that finds its source in Christ.
Thoughts feed the soul. When we seek what is good, we will see what is good, and experience lift instead of drift. God has given us so much that we have every reason to BE THANKFUL.
On the one hand, “something new” sounds exciting and it is, but on the other hand, to step in the divine direction for our lives usually requires us to step away from our current comfort zone.
In a difficult decision there are four stages in the process of following "Divine Direction".
Jesus expected a mixed and messy field until harvest! Be certain that the King and his angels will sort it all out later.
As God’s children, the more we reconize just how badly we needed to be forgiven, the more we will love our Savior and be able to demonstrate His immeasurable mercy and grace toward others.
Rather than seeing ourselves as better than other sinners, can we see ourselves as THE sinner that Christ died for? An accurate self-assessment always measures by this grace (not by comparison), and moves us to ask for more grace!
The deal of a lifetime is an exchange of everything you have, for everything God has for you.
In this story from Jesus, he does a masterful job at opening our eyes to how sometimes things are not what they seem. Jesus told a story about a winner and a loser. But it was the surprise in the story that makes the story so powerful.
When I pursue God’s will, God provides everything I need to accomplish His Will!
When I pursue “My will” without seeking “God’s will” I tend to outspend God’s provision and create some problems.
We live at a time when people seem to value the act of belief rather than the real object of belief, but it is the object of our belief that makes our believing valuable.
The story of humanity is the story of sin, and the story of God is the story of his rescuing grace.
God will give you more than you can handle, but He will never give you more than He can handle.
Listening for God's response to our prayers, implies more than just listening, it implies hearing, accepting, internalizing, and responding with an action.
When you make regular prayer your ordinary routine, God adds the EXTRA to your ORDINARY to shape your life in extraordinary ways.
Grace is available not just to forgive our past, and not just for healing our wounds, not just for getting us to heaven, but grace is there for us to tap into today.
Jesus gave us supernatural radical Grace, and he expects us to be transformed by it so much that we can give grace because grace is always greater.
Whatever it is, GRACE IS GREATER! It is greater than the cumulative culmination of all the sins that can place you at rock bottom. Grace is greater!!
Secular historians all agree that Jesus lived and died. That isn’t the question. The question for today is whether Jesus died and lived!
Serving others is a life changing experience. God works through us to make a difference in the life of the one being served while also making a difference in the life of the one serving. This message includes audio from the 2018 VVCC Mexico Mission Team discussing their recent trip to serve Ninos de Baja.
The best way to improve our marriages, make a difference in our workplaces and discover our spiritual gifts is to serve those around us. Serving is the quickest way to see change in our own lives.
We evaluate our resources and hesitate to give more because we think we will have less. But when we trust Jesus and give what we have into his hands, he gives us more not less. We learn by the experience. Serve and you will be more satisfied, not less.
Gossip is a lot easier to spot when other people do it than when we are involved in it. Sometimes it is hard to see gossip in ourselves, but gossiping hurts far more than we realize.
Science and the Bible agree: Happy people cultivate gratitude, and unhappy people cultivate negativity.
What we want is to do whatever we want whenever we want to, but what we need is people who know us well and help us want more than that.
If I am always managing my image, people only know the imaginary me, and then God’s prescription for a thriving life is ruined.
Drifting is subtle. It does not feel like you are moving while it is happening, unless we have our bearings on a fixed point. Small groups help us gain our bearings on a fixed point, and it is much easier to go against the current, when you are doing that together.
We can never finish the things we never started. What is always true is that the decisions we make today determine the story of our life tomorrow. What story do you want your life to tell?
What is it about coming to the light that we are afraid of? Are we afraid of the change Jesus asks of us, when he asks us to walk away from OUR darkness? Perhaps the best remedy is to look a little longer at the one who is asking. If you really look to him and listen to him, I think you will want to follow him rather than walk away. You cannot keep walking in darkness AND follow Jesus.
The claims and the Life of Jesus have been a controversial subject since he came to this world some 2000 years ago. Every major world religion has some account of who Jesus was. Few if any deny that Jesus walked on this earth but most refute his claims to be God in the flesh. What you do with Jesus’ claims determines your eternal destiny.
What we do today affects tomorrow. In our generation we are tempted to live today as if tomorrow doesn’t matter. For some reason, many of us have difficulty connecting the dots to form an accurate picture of how money matters play out over time.
God placed in our hands resources, money, stuff, time, talents, and they're not ours. He owns it. God owns it all. You and I are just managers. We have a fiduciary trust responsibility to the owner (God) to do with his stuff as he tells us to do with his stuff.
Many people get all sophisticated and academic about debt and say, "Come on, there's good debt and then there's bad debt. You know that debt is a tool than can be used for good." It isn’t a sin to borrow, but the way our culture teaches us to use debt, is foolishness.
God has a game plan for your monney that works!! Why not trust God and begin working on these 5 Bible Basics About Money Matters?
Have you ever had a deep yearning within you to make some kind of significant mark in life? Begin by delighting yourself in the Lord Soon things will begin shifting inside, and you will see your vision, your desires begin to match God’s desires. Then seize your vision and make your move! How? Pray big bold audacious prayers!
For some reason, we all expect prayers to be answered immediately and miraculously, and we are so easily discouraged and give up with persistent prayer. This message, and the small group study that goes with it, is designed to help us stay persistent in our bold prayers!
God enjoys hearing about our plans (big and small) because we are inviting him to be involved. He also enjoys when we learn about his plans, accept these, and pray with these in mind.
Skepticism isn’t necessarily bad. We all need some healthy skepticism. We’d be in trouble if we believed everything people told us. But sometimes our skepticism is misplaced.
A faith that believes even when it doesn't see - a faith that perseveres even when nothing changes - a faith that is demonstrated by our actions is God honoring and moves the very heart of God.
When there is no storm, sometimes we don’t feel a deep need for Jesus, but in the middle of the storm we realize, we need divine help.
When you believe the “deceitfulness of wealth”, you won’t maximize what you have for God’s Kingdom, because you believe you need more for your kingdom.
Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV) "'For I know the plans I have for you", declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."' You can see why this verse is so popular. But there's more to this verse than most people realize. In this message we discover why this Bible Verse doesn’t mean what many people think it means.
What does it mean “Don’t Judge”? Is there ever a time when judging is ok and even EXPECTED?
Have you ever been mad at God or confused about prayer because God did not answer your prayer? Our prayers are not always answered in the ways we think they should be.
Everyone can relate to falling into temptation. Ever fallen into righteousness? Of course not, and today we'll talk about why . . .
When you are in step with the Spirit of God, you will not gratify the desires of your flesh. Why? Because you are so full of what matters, you're not tempted by the emptiness of what does not matter.
Each of us has some specific temptations that make us vulnerable. So, what I want for you to do today is this: Listen today with YOUR greatest temptations in mind.
Everyone is tempted at one level or another. Some temptations seem odd to others. They are not a temptation to you, and it is hard to imagine that it is a temptation to anyone.
When the storm hits, and it will, it will expose whether the foundation you set was foolish or wise. Jesus promises that your life will stand through the storms if you trust and obey him! What it comes right down to is what or who are you going to trust?
While we want to say, let me get ready first, then get set, then go, Jesus says, “follow me”.
We shouldn’t let our weaknesses stop us because our weaknesses can help us to rely on God’s great strength, in a better way than if we thought we were strong and could do it on our own.
You have entered the field of dreams when your children love and trust the God you love and trust.
So if that is the field of dreams...how do we get there?
Parents have blind spots. Chances are really good that you will be blindsided by your child. What will you do when that happens?
Knowing yourself and knowing your child and knowing both of you are unique really helps. There are too many false assumptions with parents.
There are some common techniques that look like successful parenting techniques, but there are hidden dangers in these common techniques.
MORE Awe of God is what we need, and yet it is commonplace to fail to make it a habit to enter into the awe of God.
If we are not in awe of God, we are usually in awe of something else, and usually that something else is self-serving. So, Life becomes all about me, and all about now. But life was never meant to be all about me and all about now.
Religion is about God. It is second hand and is mediated through another. We are wired for more. Relationship on the other hand is intimate and is about knowing God personally, directly, and experiencing him in awesome ways. We are meant to be in relationship with God.
God wove HIS story into history in a planned and purposeful way to change your story and my story for good...forever!
To the world, Jesus' story can seem tragic, or unfortunate, or even foolish, but His story is far from any of those.
When asked where the kingdom of God would take place, Jesus replied, “Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather.”
In this message we learn that the idea of a "Killjoy God" comes from a distorted view of religion, and not from the good news of Jesus.
In this message we are reminded that God doesn't exist to serve us, but that we exist to serve God.
In the final message of this series, we talk about the importance of forgiving others because of who we are in Christ.
In the second message of this series, we talk about accepting others just as Jesus accepted us--before we were "acceptable".
In the first message in the series, "Three Keys That Open Locked Hearts" we are reminded to Love like Jesus.
In the concluding message of this series, we recap the previous 5 messages, and focus on the abundance of joy that is ours in Christ.
In the fifth message of this series, we focused on learning to be content through Christ no matter what our circumstances.
In the fourth message of this series, we learned the importance of practicing being joyful in the Lord before circumstances get difficult.
In the third message of this series, we talked about how to have joy by focusing on the greatness of God rather than on our circumstances.
In the second message of this series, we continue talking about the difference between happiness, which is based on circumstances, and joy and hope which God can help us experience in our relationships.
In the first message of this series, we begin talking about the difference between happiness, which is based on circumstances, and joy and hope which God can help us experience despite our circumstances.
Our fear of displeasing other people can often keep us from following God's plan for us. Overcoming our fears means caring more about what God thinks of us than what others think.
Fear, anxiety, and uncertainty can often have paralyzing impact on us. Fears attack the most precious parts of our life and keep us from living the life meant for us. God wants to help us overcome our darkest fears as we learn to Fear Not.
If we follow in the footsteps of Jesus, others can follow Jesus even as they follow our example.
Only when you know the goodness of being forgiven and washed when you don’t deserve it are you equipped to serve someone else who does not deserve it.
Do first things first and everything that needs to be done will be done; do other things first if you want important things to be undone.
We all need the support, love, and nurture of others in order to grow from childhood to maturity. It is the same with our spiritual lives. God never intended for us to do life alone. Join with us as we take steps together from where we are to where God wants us to be.
As recipients of God's unending grace, it is important for us to remember that no one has arrived. There is no one on earth who is so close to God that they are grace graduates with no steps to take. We ALL have a next step. What's yours?
The first message in a series that lays out both the purpose and vision of Verde Valley Christian Church.