New River Valley Church

He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. We may all be sure of this. Benjamin shares how the NRV Church community has been a gift from God and how the community will continue to be a gift to the world.

The resurrection offers us redemption, a road back to a renewed Eden.

Two questions frame the triumphal entry: What do you want me to do for you? and Who is this?

The glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle, in the center of the camp,in the sight of all the people. God guided them in their coming and their going. We too need God's guidance, yet sometimes we get misguided.

A tabernacle, gold and costly materials, and an invitation to giving. Where does heaven and earth overlap?

Moses says to God, “Show me your glory.” The result is God's self-revelation of his character and name. God's glory is unlike ours — it transforms everything for us.

God's grace brings Israel out of slavery in Egypt and before God's presence at Mt. Sinai. God has chosen Israel as his bride, but here in Exodus 19 God proposes his covenant to Israel. They are faced with a decision: Will they accept his proposal?

Peace on earth! What a wonderful promise that Christmas points to. And yet, what a hard promise to hope in — one that seems impossible in the midst of chaos, pain and war. How do we make sense of peace and pain? What role do we play?

Today we examine the 10th plague on Egypt — Death. As God acts decisively to break the chains of brokenness and bondage, the Israelites must take a stand under the blood of the Lamb. But we all have a bit of Egypt in us too, don't we?

Today we examine the cosmos battle between Yahweh and Pharaoh, as God dismantles the gods of the Egyptians one by one. Yahweh is God and we are not… This truth appears self evident, but doesn't actually come naturally to us.

In this sermon we examine the images of God's Son (Israel here) and the Staff that God empowers.

Who is God, and is He worth following? Many of us develop certain views of God throughout our lifetimes that don't fit with the God revealed in scripture. The God who reveals himself to Moses turns out to be better than we can fathom.

Moses felt like an outsider, someone who does not belong. Does God see us in our experiences of pain in this world?

As humans we are faced which two competing visions of “the good life” or shalom at any given time. The kingdoms of this world offer their narrative and the kingdom of God its own. Which will we live into?

To many of Jesus' teachings in the Sermon on the Mount we might respond, “Jesus, are you serious?” Sayings like “love your enemy” and “do not worry” are shocking. But what if Jesus is serious? How will we respond? Today we analyze two acccounts of people who respond to Jesus — the rich ruler and Zacchaeus.

This week we closed out our series through the Sermon on the Mount with Jesus' closing parable, an invitation to practice his teachings. Will you practice his way of life?

2 gates, 2 roads, 2 destinations. Jesus invites us into his Way of life, the road that leads to Life. Will we join him?

“Ask, seek, knock” Jesus teaches us, because God gives good gifts. When we experience unanswered prayer though, we may begin to question this goodness of God. At the resurrection, we see Mary, Mary and Salome experience an open door. This open door teaches us that God does indeed open the door and he does give good gifts.

Today we walk through Jesus' triumphal entry as King into Jerusalem, his escapades in the Temple, and his cursing of the fig tree. None of this was random. On Palm Sunday we are confronted by the King and challenged to respond with vulnerability and repentance.

Jesus teaches us "Do not worry..." This is a hard teaching. We are constantly faced with worry and anxiety about money, time, and stuff. This is fueled by a spirit of scarcity which Jesus terms "Mammon." How are we to be a people of abundance, in the face of scarcity?

Kameron Body teaches us about encountering God in prayer, not performing for others.

"I'm not perfect, nobody is!" We feel that truth deep in our bones, yet Jesus has a greater vision for us than we do for ourselves. He is empowering us for a journey of "becoming perfect" in him. Making fences in our lives can propel us on this journey of spiritual formation toward Christ-likeness.

We all bring our biases and our backgrounds with us when we read the Bible. Some of us struggle to trust God's Word and struggle harder to obey it. Others of us are legalists about it. What does it really mean that Jesus fulfills the Law and the Prophets? How does this affect our relationship with Scripture?

"You are the salt of the earth... You are the light of the world!" What would these statements have meant to their original hearers? How are we to be salt and light as followers of Jesus in the 21st century?

What does it mean to be blessed? Jesus pronounces a blessing over his followers... not a set of "if...then" commandments, but a statement of a reality already present. How might this affect us today?

Jesus teaches us about the Good Shepherd, but in our text today he demonstrates to us that He is the Good Shepherd, who makes us lie down in green pastures.

Will Hutchins preaches from Matthew 18. Sometimes we stray from the right paths God has marked out for us, from his flock that is meant to surround us. What do we do when we stray?

Sometimes we stray from the path or get lost in the shuffle... Jesus is willing to do whatever it takes to restore us. And when he does, in his joy he throws a party!

Today we begin our journey through the Good Shepherd parables and narratives. "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want," this famous line from the biblical narrative has the power to change everything - the way we see God, the world, and ourselves.

Today we examine Jesus' interpretation of the greatest commandments - particularly how he teaches to "love your neighbor." We are challenged to become neighbors, like Jesus, to all people. This type of love is indeed costly.

Today we look at "The Shema," the greatest commandment. This prayer was prayed morning and night by Jesus' contemporaries. How can these words become written on our hearts?

In our cultural setting we tend to make the Lord's Supper, or communion, personal. That is, we make it all about ourselves. The Corinthians did this too, just without the hyper-individualism. It led to divisions and humiliation. The Lord's Supper that Jesus instituted was a necessarily communal practice and Paul teaches us that such a practice can be a "living sermon", one that proclaims the Lord's death until he returns. May we make communion communal.

Paul encourages his hearers to embark on the 'treacherous mountain trek' of becoming love. When Jesus took on flesh, he perfectly modeled love for us. By his love, we need not seek after self-love, but rather we are empowered to become love for God and for others.

Corinth was an epicenter of athletic completion, strict training, and competing for a crown. In such a culture, Paul uses these images from every day life to paint the picture for God's people. We are to be teammates in the gospel of Jesus - training ourselves to be like Jesus for the sake of others. And the crown that will given to us shall never perish, spoil or fade.

How do we follow Jesus in this world despite our circumstances? Paul's exhortation to the Corinthians is to "live as a believer in whatever situation" you find yourselves... Live your calling. When we find our identity in the One who calls us, we are able to let go of shame from our circumstances, tell our story, and see God move.

Today we look at the early Christian teaching that Jesus was the Christ, that he died for our sins, and that he was raised on the third day. Today we ask, is this all true? Was Jesus who he said he was? Was he a liar? A lunatic? A legend? Or was he really the Lord, did he really raised to new life? And if so, is he really Lord to us, or do we treat his teachings more like lies or lunacy?

Every year on Palm Sunday we celebrate and remember Jesus' triumphal entry. Today we look at one man's reception of Jesus as King contrasted with the crowd's desire for a kingdom... The question for us is, "What do you want Jesus to do for you?" Do you want his kingdom without him as King?

The topic of sexuality is generally looked at as taboo for public church settings. But doesn't the Bible have lots to say about our sexuality and our bodies? Our cultural narrative tells us we have the right to do anything. Such freedom tends to lead to the slavery and degrading of our bodies though. Yet we discover our bodies are invaluable to God.

 "A little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough." Paul confronts our attitudes towards sin. In his view, sin is not just a personal matter but a communal one. As challenging as it is, we are responsible for one another. Yet even more so, Jesus is responsible for us.

Are you not still worldly? In 1 Corinthians 3 this is the question the apostle Paul asks of his audience. He challenges them for the ways they look at others and they look at themselves, losing sight of God himself. When we turn our eyes back to God we are able to shift from "self-made" people, to servants of God and coworkers with Christ.

God communicates his thoughts - his mind - to us through the person of Jesus Christ. Through Jesus, we can share in these thoughts and share them with a world hungering for God.

As humans we are drawn to power. Yet the cross was a sign of humiliation. Why would God become flesh and be crowned with humiliation?

In a diverse city like Corinth, people were largely divided along ethnic and nationalistic lines. The Romans, the Greeks, the Jews... all carrying their cultural experiences, customs and biases into the Church. Maybe we can relate to that today? The question for us is this, is the voice of Jesus louder than our biases?

"Biblical hope is not about desiring a certain outcome, but about waiting for a certain God." When things seem to be falling apart around us, or when our prayers are continually met with silence, how are we to respond? How do we find hope in those times? Mary's story, and the coming of Jesus, show us that hope is found in unexpected places.

Why does the farmer risk his greatest treasure in this story?

Kameron did a great job of preaching to us about how we are to be ready for the day when Jesus comes. To be the servant that has done their duty. Like the disciples, our response to this call should be "Lord increase our faith!".

For a tree that normally produces fruit 10 months out of each year, it almost seems like a waste to keep this tree around, yet the vinedresser fights on its behalf to the owner. Why does the vinedresser fight for this fig tree? How much time does this fig tree really have? Kameron Body helps us understand this passage and what it might mean for us.

"What must I do to inherit eternal life?" "Who is my neighbor?" These questions seek to define limits and parameters regarding the the way we love and who we love. Jesus challenges our expectations and our parameters and calls us into costly compassion, even for our enemy. At the same time he challenges our view of God, depicting a loving Savior who gladly offers his children an inheritance, no matter the cost to Himself.

Taking a look at Luke 9 more closely, we learn that the three responses Jesus received are more common than we may realize. In fact we ourselves may have said these things to Jesus on more than one occasion when he asks us to follow him.

Jesus invites us to take a look at the soils of our hearts in this parable. 1st century Palestinian farming practices allow us to better understand what Jesus is talking about, as well as the far-reaching love of God. Wherever we find ourselves, God still whispers to us, urging us to have "ears that hear"and walk with Him.

A religious leader, a prostitute and Jesus find themselves in a room together... The scene that unfolds exposes the toxicity in each of us and challenges us to judge correctly - to see our own sin without justifying ourselves by comparison. When we do, like the woman of this story, we discover amazing grace freely poured out on us.