Grace Community Bible Church - Venice Florida

When it gets right down to it, Luke tells us that the newborn church that started on the Day of Pentecost, was deeply devoted to God and each other. But it was not just lip service to them. They showed their devotion every day, loving the apostle's teaching, to fellowship, breaking bread, and praying. They ordered their lives around these things. And you know what? That is the Christian life!

What Luke wants us to know immediately about this new community that was formed after Pentecost is that they were a “devoted” people. So in this sermon Tony wants us to see their devotion and how they became devoted. He leads us to considering if we are “dabblers” rather than “devoted.” 

The aim in Gospel teaching and and in making disciples is that people would grow to be people of love. This sermon looks at the conscience and how a good one produces love. 

Parenting can feel exhilarating and overwhelming. Being a grandparent can bring joy and desperation. How do we handle this day to day? We make our home in Jesus and watch our homes magnify Jesus. Then, we do all of this together as His church.

Pain and suffering are universal to humanity and all of creation. Christians are promised suffering. So, the question is, how do we keep going?

“Repent and be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” That is what Peter told the crowd gathered on the day of Pentecost. What he was really doing was inviting them into a covenantal relationship with the Lord and sharing the conditions of the covenant. 

Just before Peter started his sermon on Pentecost the crowd asked him a question, “what does this mean?” And at the conclusion of his sermon the same crowd asked another question, “what shall we do?” They were taken from curiosity to conviction. In this sermon Tony shows us what happened to this crowd that took them from wondering and confused to feeling guilt and shame.

Peter says “this Jesus” three times in his message on Pentecost. He is defiantly wanting to make a point and he does it. Jesus was executed, raised to life, and exalted by His Father!

Thomas gets a difficult nickname in our world. Doubting that someone can rise from the dead is reasonable. What do you do when you doubt? Is God ok with our questions? Are we able to trust without understanding? Praise God Jesus is patient with us and will love us while we wait and question. 

In this sermon we look closely at the message Peter preached on Pentecost, to see that Jesus died and was raised because it was God's plan, a plan that was driven by God's love!

In this Good Friday sermon Tony wants us to feel the responsibility we have for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. He helps us to understand it by taking us to two gardens - the garden of Eden and the garden of Gethsemane

As Peter rises to speak to the crowd on Pentecost, he takes them straight to the scriptures to show that it is one of the prophet Joel's prophecies that is being fulfilled and the power and beauty of it is that now, God's people are His temple, where He dwells.

In this sermon we think about that day the Holy Spirit came and filled the Jesus' followers who were waiting for Him. It had a profound effect on them when they were filled with the Holy Spirit and those who witnessed it asked the right question, “What does this mean?”

Paul wanted to know Him and the power of His resurrection. What is that power? This sermon seeks to answer that question from the scriptures. 

Knowing Jesus produces a counter-cultural, single-minded passion to know Him more. This is at the heart of the Lenten season. 

It is commitment Sunday at Grace Community Bible Church. The church is refreshing and renewing the commitments they made a year ago, financial commitments that are going towards 27 acres of property the church purchased to be the future home of the church. In this sermon Tony answers the question, “why should I commit and what keeps me motivated to commit?”

After the ascension of Jesus, back to His Father in heaven, Luke tells us that this little band of believers, 120 of them, were of “one accord.” What a beautiful and fascinating description of the people of God.

In this sermon Tony focuses on Jesus' words in Acts 1:8, specifically “comes upon you.” Jesus told His apostles that the Holy Spirit was coming upon them. What does this mean? It means so much more than we appreciate.

Tony continues, in this sermon, looking at what Jesus said and did during his last 40 days on earth before ascending to His Father. In this sermon he leads us to look closely at Acts 1:8 and the Holy Spirit's role in our lives in general, as well as our witness.

Jesus ushered in the era of witness when He ascended to heaven. The apostles were witnesses like no one else could, but we too are called to witness for Him.

Tony pauses in his series in Acts to preach this sermon on waiting for the Lord. He made some comments about this in last week's sermon and got so much feedback that he felt led to spend a week on the subject - God has many of His people in the waiting room, it is so hard, but it is the way the Lord deepens His people. 

Acts 1:1-11 represents a summary of Jesus' 40 days, post-resurrection, with His apostles. There are some important, interesting things to see in Luke's account and Tony begins to point a few of these out in this sermon.

Tony is beginning a new series in the book of Acts. In this introduction he helps us understand the book of Acts as a whole and lays the groundwork for beginning our journey through Luke's second volume! 

We all live out of our hearts. So, how do we keep them?

Before you can keep the heart, you need to understand the heart. What is the heart? 

In Tony's final sermon for 2024, he takes us to Psalm 90 to ponder, ponder what Moses wrote that could have powerful implications for us in 2025.

This is the Sunday that Grace Community Bible Church sends out Doug & Rose Crawford to plant a new church, Risen King Bible Church. In this post you will hear Tony share his heart about the church and why the church should plant churches. Doug Crawford also shares from his heart about becoming the pastor of this new church.

In this advent sermon Tony leads us through Hebrews 1, but in a very unique way. He wants you to “pretend” like you know nothing about God, Jesus or the Bible. Hebrews 1 is the only writing you have ever seen about God and Jesus. What do you learn? What do you see? 

As humans in a fallen world, we desire to be autonomous. We want to be a law onto ourselves. This, of course, is a distortion of the authority that God granted to Adam and Eve in Eden. We must be mindful of our desire to rule over a kingdom we have no authority to rule.

In this first Sunday of advent, 2024, sermon Tony helps us see what Gabriel said to Mary is truly the gospel, the good news, that Jesus is the eternal King of Israel and the world. 

When Paul says we are supposed to "give thanks in all circumstances" that sounds good when things are going well, but how do we thank God when so much is a struggle? We take a look at moments throughout scripture where people gave thanks in every circumstance. By God's grace, if they can, we can too!

On this podcast, we are very pleased to share with you a special Sunday we had with a guest from Ukraine. He is a pastor, a church planter, and former military officer in the Ukrainian airborne forces. His name is Vasily Povoroznyuk. Vasily is the pastor of Compass Church, which he has led for 22 years. He leads a ministry to the families of fallen soldiers, widows and those orphaned. Vasily also serves as a chaplain on the front lines of the war, while overseeing the chaplain program for all of Ukraine. Pastor Tony sits down with Vasily, along with an interpreter, to hear his story and how God is using him to further the gospel and minister to the lost and hurting in the midst of the war in Ukraine.

Waiting on God is an essential aspect of the Christian life. In fact, it is the Christian life. In this sermon Jonathan explores what it is to wait on the Lord. 

This is Tony's final sermon in the gospel of Luke, a series he began about 5 years ago. Luke ends his gospel with Jesus commissioning His disciples to go and be on mission and blesses them. Tony hopes you see this as the greatest story ever known and how you are called into the story, you have a part!

In this last of a short two part series on living aware of the presence of Jesus with you, Tony takes us through various scriptures encouraging us to live the “new life” that God has given us, making “joyful choices” each day to live the life of Christ, fully present to His presence with us.

Many did not recognize Jesus after He had been raised from the dead, and for various reasons. Tony has decided to camp on this for a couple of sermons. The reality is, God's people today do not recognize His presence with them - is He with them? How? What does this mean? What are the implications of this? That is what part 1 of this two part series is all about.

In this sermon Tony leads us through the story of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And the question that rises is “Jesus is alive, so what? What bearing does the resurrection of Christ have on our lives day by day?"

We only get one verse to explain Jesus' life from age 12-30. If we are to live like Jesus, we should also grow as He grew, not matter our age. How can you grow in wisdom, stature, favor with God, and favor with people?

The community of Jesus Christ is a community of burden bearing. What does that mean? How do we do that? 

Did you know that the cross is “your story?” Did you ever think of Jesus' crucifixion as your story? It is. Gloriously, it is the way we are forgiven for our sins. But it is more. The cross ushers us into new life, just like a marriage ceremony leads you into a new life. 

We have reached the cross of Christ in our study through Luke. But before we look at it, Tony spends this sermon showing what God's plan was for the cross and why the cross was the only answer God had to love us.

In this sermon Tony walks us through Jesus' last two trials, before Herod and Pilate. It is a violent, chaotic, unjust, unlawful, scene. But there is something bigger happening than all that we see or perceive. There is a much bigger story, eternal, supernatural, story unfolding which has been authored by God. God is the architect of everything that is happening to Jesus.

When Pilate asked Jesus “what is truth” it was because Jesus said He was in the world to testify to truth, and everyone who is of truth listened to His voice. In this sermon Tony leads us to focus on what Jesus meant by “those who are of the truth listen to my voice.” The implications of Jesus' words are huge, practical, radical, and life altering.

Tony leads us to really think about the question that Pilate asked Jesus, “what is truth?” Why did Pilate ask this? What if you were asked this, could you answer? Does truth matter to you? 

In this sermon Tony wraps up our look at the life of Judas by sharing three lessons we can learn from his life and death. And then Tony takes us into Pilate's courtroom for Jesus' first civil trial.

Judas' life was a sad one, a tragic one. And the end of his life was sadly tragic too. In this sermon Tony shares about Judas' death by suicide. And then he spends the bulk of the sermon addressing those who may be contemplating suicide, sharing what Jesus wants them to know and hear. 

Jesus is shackled and chained. He is led off to begin the six trials that He must go through before being crucified. The lesson in all of this for us? It is after Peter denies Jesus three times and Jesus turns and looks at him. What did that look mean? What did Jesus communicate when He looked at Peter? It caused Peter to “weep bitterly” and maybe it is the same look we get from Him when we sin.

1. What did you think of God as a teenager? How has that changed since then?2. Read 1 Tim 4:12. Who is a young follower of Jesus whose life is an example to you?3. Read 1 Cor 11:1. If a young person followed your life this last week, would they be closer to Jesus or farther away? Who are the young people following your life?4. When it comes to the caves we can hide from God in, which one do you most often get caught in? (Anger, Isolation, Anxiety, Shame)5. What are 2 verses you cling to as anchors when the storm of life comes your way?6. Read Mark 10:45. If we want to be like Jesus, we serve. Where are you serving God and His people?7. Pray for each other