Pastor JD VanValin: Sermons: Recent Episodes
JD VanValin
Third Sunday of Lent
Text: Luke 13:1-9
Bad things happen to good people. Particular sin is not always related to particular disasters. However, Jesus reminds us that unless we repent, we too will perish. Just as calamity and destruction happen in this world, so too will it happen to all of us who do not repent. The posture of repentance is the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Whenever we stand in the presence of God, who is holy, we are reminded that we are unholy without him. We need him. We need to be cleansed. We repent and we believe the good news of Jesus Christ.
First Sunday of Lent
Text: Deuteronomy 26:1-11
We all have been or will go through the wilderness. Life itself is in a way a wilderness. We don't know what is ahead and we need to be led by someone. While there are guides to the wilderness, it is better to have a guide. Jesus is the best guide. Though from heaven, he entered the wilderness and overcame sin and death for us so that we can live. The only way to eternal life is through the cross, the ultimate wilderness, where Jesus laid down his life for us.
Transfiguration Sunday
Text: Luke 9:28-43
Jesus is the Son of God, and we are to listen to him. Our own ideas, ways, thoughts, preferences, and actions always fall short of Jesus'. He is Lord of all. Not only will he transform us today, but he will transform us completely at the resurrection.
Seventh Sunday of Epiphany
Text: Luke 6:27-36
Why should we be merciful? How can we be merciful? What does being merciful mean for us and look like in our world?
Sixth Sunday of Epiphany
Text: Luke 6:17-26
Praise God from whom all blessings flow! Jesus is an outpouring of blessing; he is the blessed one!
Fifth Sunday of Epiphany
Text: Luke 5:1-11
Jesus called Peter from catching fish to catching people (making disciples). Jesus models for us how to pursue people, and not just any people, but those who are on the margins of society--the overlooked, disregarded. How well are you doing at following Jesus and fishing for people?
Fourth Sunday of Epiphany
Text: Luke 4:22-30
Jesus went from popular to hated as quickly as raindrops from the sky. Do we tend to take Jesus as he is, or adapt and adjust him to how we think he ought to be? If he truly is Lord, then in what ways do I need to change, and how can I better submit to him?
Third Sunday of Epiphany
Texts: Nehemiah 8:1-3, Luke 4:14-21
Before Christ came, Israel was God's chosen people to "flesh out" his word in the world, but they fell short. Jesus is the Word of God in the flesh, and he is perfect. He "fleshed out" the Word of God flawlessly even to the point of death. He is our source and our model for how to obey the commands of God. When he read from Isaiah in the synagogue in Nazareth and he said that the scripture was "fulfilled in their hearing", Jesus was informing all people that God was in their presence. The presence of God empowers the church to do as Jesus does.
Second Sunday of Epiphany
Text: John 2:1-11
The first sign Jesus performed was turning water to wine at a wedding feast. Jesus revealed his glory and also the abundance of the house of God. God's house had indeed come in Christ. We have received the abundance of God's house, the best we have ever had, in the person of Jesus. Jesus, the Word made flesh, lived among us, and gave us his life (entering death), so that we could have not just any life, but abundant life, eternal life.
Happy New Year! May 2022 be a year that you become a more faithful follower of Jesus!
Second Sunday of Christmas
Text: Ephesians 1:3-14
What did you get for Christmas! Ephesians 1:3-14 gives a profound list of gifts that are only from the Lord. Because of these gifts in Christ, we are set free to live a life that is for the praise of God's glory, not for our own.
First Sunday of Christmas
Text: 1 Samuel 2:18-26
There are quite a few accounts in scripture of miraculous births, but none are like the birth of Jesus. Yet, at the same time, all of them point to the person of Jesus and the salvation that he provides for the world.
Third Sunday of Advent
Text: Isaiah 12:2-6
The ability to sing is a gift from God. God sings over us and over creation, and so we sing back to him. We sing because of his marvelous gifts, especially the gift of Jesus. Throughout generations and across the globe, humanity has been singing about the coming of Christ. God is putting together a choir that will join the everlasting song in the new creation, and it is our joy sing to the King.
Second Sunday of Advent
Text: Malachi 3:1-4
Prepare the way, meaning make space, but not just any space, sacred space. God wants to live with his people, and but he is a refining fire and will consume anything that is unholy. He came to dwell in the temple, then he came to dwell in Jesus (God in the flesh), and he wants to dwell in us through the Holy Spirit. In order to do this, we must do as John the Baptist taught us--repent.
First Sunday of Advent
Text: Luke 21:35-36
Hope is an incredibly powerful force. It is what drives human life. If hope is lost, life quickly follows. Our hope is in Jesus, and the foundation of that hope is in his advent, or coming. He came, and he is coming again. In the meantime, we have great hope, not in the things and events in the world, but because of the promise of his return to reign forever.
Text: Revelation 1:4-8
Jesus is King, he has always been King, and he is returning as King someday. What is this King like? And what is his Kingdom like? In our American culture, we tend to want the Kingdom without the King. But the Kingdom is impossible without the presence of the King. How should this change how we live in the world.
Text: Hebrews 10:11-31
After Jesus offered his blood as an atoning sacrifice for our sins, he sat down. It's done. We do not go on as usual. This is a life-transforming, whole-person re-orienting, mission-altering event. It's not even just for a few people, but this work is for the whole world. The good news of Jesus requires us to respond, and hopefully receive.
Text: Mark 12:28-34
Anytime you seek to learn information, a skill, a way of living from someone, there is an end goal for taking time to learn. The end goal of discipleship is not merely to know God, but to love him and also to love those whom he loves. In other words, the goal of a disciple is to be like Jesus.
Text: Mark 10:46-52
Jesus opened the eyes of the blind, he helps us to see. A different question is, "Does God see?" A common prayer in the scriptures is "Give ear, O God, and hear. Open your eyes, and see." It is a request/command for God to look, to see, to hear, and ultimately to have compassion and intervene. We all need God to come, and the amazing thing is that he actually came down and took on a human perspective with human eyes. If there is any god that sees, it is the God who took on human flesh, and he leads us in paths of righteousness.
Text: Mark 10:35-45
Discipleship Group Guide
We all hunger for glory. God made us for glory--for his and ours. Sin distorted, as it does all things, our desire for glory. Instead of looking for it in God, we seek it out in other ways in which the world offers. When we follow Jesus, we don't just jump from justification to glory. Instead, Jesus asks us, "Can you drink the cup I drink? Can you be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?" He invites us to follow him descending into darkness in order to shine light and bring hope. At death, we do not need to fear, for we will rise with him in the last day and live in his glory forever.
Text: Mark 10:17-31
Discipleship Group Guide
Jesus calls us to follow him. It is a high invitation and a high challenge. His call is gentle yet tough. He came and it cost him everything, and likewise, when we follow him, it costs us everything. The rich young ruler got a taste of Christ's call on his life. Bonhoeffer says that cheap grace justifies sin, while costly grace justifies the sinner. Jesus removes sin, but he also transforms our life, and that is costly.
Text: Mark 10:13-16
Discipleship Group Guide
Jesus prioritizes children as being the necessary model for inheriting the Kingdom of God. What can we learn from our childhood and from the children that we care for today? As disciples of Jesus, may we all become like children in our dependence, trust, and obedience to the Lord.
Text: James 5:13-20
Discipleship Group Guide
As a disciple of Jesus, what should I do when ________? The Bible is not necessarily an instruction book, yet there are sometimes very specific instructions for certain situations. James gives very specific instructions for God's people in James 5:13-20. When we obey these instructions we are practicing the way of Jesus. Practicing the way of Jesus is a long journey, and over time, we see the fruit of God's work in our lives. May we continue to follow Jesus and obey his commands.
Text: Proverbs 31
Discipleship Group Guide
A Proverbs 31 Wife is the typical designation for a godly woman who serves her family and community well. Since the Church is the bride of Christ, and since the Church is made up of disciples, Proverbs 31 is also a description of the faithful bride of Christ and how disciples live.
Text: James 3:1-12
Discipleship Group Guide
How should someone who follows Jesus speak? Why do Christians sometimes speak evil words? What needs to be done? The words and messages we speak reveal what is in our heart. If we need to change how we speak, we need to change our heart. Jesus can heal us and he does this through his Holy Spirit and the work of fellow believers in our lives.
Text: Psalm 146:5-10, and many more
If you could choose to be part of a church full of rich people or poor people, which would you choose? A church without the poor is out of touch with the world since the majority of the world is poor. Jesus became poor for our sake. If we are to follow Jesus, that should be our same path.
Text: Deuteronomy 4:1-9
One thing that makes the community of believers distinct from all other communities is our reliance upon God's word: written, spoken, and revealed. The written word of God provides so much for us, but more than anything, it helps us know God.
Text: Joshua 24:1-2, 14-27
As a community of believers, we are all servants. Servants of Jesus, of each other, and the world. As Jesus came to serve us, so we must also serve those around us.
Text: John 6
Jesus said, "I am the bread of life." What does that mean for us as a community of believers? This offensive teaching drove people away when Jesus said it and it still is tough to swallow. Why is Jesus the only "loaf" from which we eat?
Text: Ephesians 2:11-22
Jesus himself is our peace. Peace is not only about mending relationships, but with Jesus, it is about creating a new relationship, a new humanity, and a new citizenship. The church a community of peace when it practices the way of Jesus by allowing the presence of Jesus to be the core of their life. As much as the world talks about peace, or ending violence, the gospel of Jesus is the only hope for peace in our communities and our world.
Text - 2 Samuel 6:1-19
David dancing before the Lord, making sacrifices, and blessing his people is a wonderful picture of worship. Often it is the special moments of worship that we find memorable, but to be a worshiping community means more worship defines who we are as well as becomes what we do. Worship is participating in the salvation story of God. We receive and respond, recite what has happened, and rehearse what is to come in the repetitive liturgies of our lives.
Texts - Ezekiel 2:1-5, Mark 6:1-13
Jesus is the prophet that was rejected in his hometown. The Church must be prophetic considering that we are the body of Christ. Prophecy is not a new message from the Lord, but it is the same message of Jesus, the message of the gospel. Christ has come, Christ has died, Christ is risen from the dead. We as the community of believers not only believe this message and share it, but it is also the defining narrative of our life. It shapes how we view the world, our culture, and what we do. To live prophetically is to walk in the way of Jesus, the rejected prophet.
Text - Mark 5:21-43
The Church is the body of Christ. If Christ is a healing individual, so the Church is a healing community. We are healed by Jesus, and we heal others, not by our own power, but the power of Christ at work in us and through us. We can learn a lot about the healing work Christ calls us to by looking at the two individuals that Jesus heals, the synagogue ruler's daughter and the woman who seems to have no one looking out for her.
Texts - 2 Samuel 17, and Mark 4:35-41
The Church is a community of believers who are delivered from evil. Like David delivered the Israelites from the Philistines, so Jesus delivered us from Satan. We too are called to be a force against evil.
Texts: 1 Samuel 8:4-7, Mark 3:20-35
Doing God's will is difficult for everyone. We are bent toward sin as a result of the fall in Genesis 3. The call of all people is to follow Jesus, who is the only one who has done God's will (to the point of death). He has also freed us from sin and empowered us to do God's will. The church is the community of believers who not only pray "Your will be done" but who also live doing God's will, which is good news for the whole world.
Text: Isaiah 6:1-8
All Christians stand on the testimony, "I have seen the Lord" or "I saw the Lord." We worship and serve a God who has revealed himself to humanity, and most explicitly in the person of Jesus Christ, who is God in the flesh. But we do not only believe others have seen him, nor do we just see him or try to see him, we are sent by him into the world. We, like Isaiah, respond to the Lord by saying, "Here I am. Send me," because God is alive and he welcomes us as his partners in his mission to all the earth.
Pentecost Sunday
Text: Acts 2:1-12
Pentecost marks the day when God first poured out his Spirit on the believers who were from various regions and spoke various languages. Those observing the amazing event asked a good and reasonable question, "What does this mean?" Today, God is still pouring out the Holy Spirit on all who receive Christ as Lord, and what it meant for them is still what it means for us, right now.
Sixth Sunday of Easter
Text: John 15:9-17
Christ's command for us to love one another is a new command (John 13) from an old command to love God and neighbor. Jesus has created a new community, his Church, through his incarnation, death, and resurrection. This new community is invited into the love that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit share together in order for our joy to be complete.
Fifth Sunday of Easter
Text: John 15:1-8
The fruit of abiding in Christ is consistent with the person of Jesus. Grapevines bear grapes, the Jesus vine (the True vine) bears fruit that is consistent with who Jesus is and his mission in the world. We see this in Acts as well as in the lives of people.
Fourth Sunday of Easter
Text: Acts 4:5-12
Peter healed a crippled man in the name of Jesus, and he told the religious leaders that it was done in the name of Jesus, who is risen from the dead. What does "in the name of Jesus" mean? Is it merely words that we say? Jesus wants us to know about the power and glory of his name and how we are connected so that we can participate in his redemptive work in the world.
Third Sunday of Easter
Text: Luke 24:36-48
When Jesus appeared the disciples feared and doubted, yet were filled with joy and amazement. The resurrection of the body is unlike anything w have ever experienced. Jesus showed us what we will become if we believe in and follow him. Despite there being myths of resurrected gods, Jesus is the only one that actually has historical credibility and present-day power. He reveals himself to us and calms our fears.
Second Sunday of Easter
Text: John 20:19-23
Jesus sends his disciples by breathing on (in) them the Holy Spirit. How was Jesus sent? Do you want to be like Jesus? The Gospel of John focuses on the "sentness" of Jesus, and we too get to participate in being sent. We cannot do his work on our own, we need God himself in us.
Resurrection Sunday
Text: John 20:1-18
Jesus rose from the dead, and so shall we too be raised from the dead! We were dead/asleep because of sin, but because of Jesus we are alive/awake. He has called us by name to awake from our slumber, and he will call us by name to arise from the dead. May we respond to the Lord's call.
Palm/Passion Sunday
Text: Mark 14:32-42
Instead of intimacy with the Father in Gethsemene, Jesus tasted the cup of God's wrath, knowing that he would have to drink the full cup at the cross. His was in despair, and not even his closest companions, his disciples, could stay awake. We all have fallen asleep, even Abram (Gen. 15:12), but even though we fail to stay awake, God is the one who is always awake and keeps his covenant. Jesus fulfilled the covenant by obeying the Father, and in doing so, he cut a new covenant with his own blood so that we could wake up and rise from the dead.
Fifth Sunday of Lent
Text: John 12:20-33, Hebrews 5:5-10
When the Greeks came to see Jesus, Jesus declared that the "hour has come." If we zoom out and look at the full context of scripture, since before the creation of the world, God had decided to give his Son for the world. The whole world had gone after Jesus because
Fourth Sunday of Lent
Text: Numbers 21:4-9
Jesus was lifted up just as Moses lifted up the snake on the pole. He is the one who forgives us of our sin and heals us of unrighteousness by becoming sin for us.
Third Sunday of Lent
Text: John 2:13-22
Jesus disrupts life. In John 2, Jesus disrupts the temple activities (normal routine), the Passover preparations (normal plans), and the understanding of the temple (normal ideas). Disruption always calls for change (repentance). Jesus leads us into a new way of life if we embrace his disruption.
Second Sunday of Lent
Text: Romans 4:13-25
Abraham's story helps us to see how faith is vital when it comes to righteousness. In what or in whom do we put our faith? The promises of God are incredible. Can something so good really be true?
Sixth Sunday of Epiphany (Transfiguration Sunday)
Text: Mark 9:2-9
When Christ was transfigured he lifted the veil, revealing his true nature--fully God, fully man. The disciples were shown a glimpse of the kingdom of God, but in order to follow Jesus, they couldn't stay there--they had to go down the mountain with Jesus to the cross. We love the mountain top experience, but will we too follow Jesus down the mountain?
Fifth Sunday of Epiphany
Text: John 1:30-31, Isaiah 40:28-31
How is one's strength renewed? Let's consider Peter's mother-in-law (Mark 1) and the Widow at Zarephath (1 Kings 17) and see how the Lord renewed their strength and what the Lord would have for us.
Fourth Sunday of Epiphany
Text: Mark 1:21-28
Jesus teaches with authority and has shown he has authority over evil spirits, sickness, and death. He is Lord of the Sabbath! As the "authorities" plot to kill him, Jesus is sharing his authority with his disciples. Jesus has full authority, but does he have complete authority in your life? If you are his disciple, have you received this authority that he wants to share with you?
Third Sunday of Epiphany
Text: Jonah 1-4
The Word of God came to Jonah, but it wasn't just for him, it was for the people of Nineveh. Jonah did evil, the Ninevites did evil until they heard and obeyed the Word of God. In the end, Jonah was not transformed by God's Word. He never shared God's compassion for God's enemies. Jesus, the Word of God who came in the flesh, perfect models compassion for enemies and it is only through him that we can overcome evil.
Second Sunday of Epiphany
Text: 1 Samuel 3:1-10; John 1:43-51
God calls us to himself more than he calls us to any task. The posture of a Christian is "Speak, Lord. Your servant is listening." Whether you hear God's voice or sense his direction in prayer, or whether or not you feel or hear anything at all, know that God calls you to be his, and therefore, to be Holy.
First Sunday after Epiphany
Text: Matthew 2:1-12
In Christ, God has revealed his nature, mission, and way not just to the Jews, but to all nations. The Magi represent the nations and choose to bow before him. Every nation will one day bow before the King. We either choose to bow today, or react by falling down before him whenever that day comes.
Second Sunday of Christmas
Text: Jeremiah 31:7-14
The goodness of God is fully expressed in the gift of his son, setting us free from wondering if God is good during times of suffering. God's goodness is eternal because that is who he is as well as who he gives.
First Sunday of Christmas
Text: Galatians 4:4-7
No one wants an incomplete gift, yet many settle for one. Jesus came not only to rescue us, but also to renew us. Salvation in Christ is not just being saved from hell, but it is being adopted as daughters and sons.