Village Church Sermons

As we take a step back to look at the story of Christmas, the story that we are called to tell, we see a God that loves to do big things with small people. We see a God who works and wills some of the most difficult situations for His glory. The King of the universe stepped down from heaven, with the heavenly host watching, to save the souls of man. He used ordinary people in His extraordinary story...the story of salvation.

As Christians, Christmas is our story to tell. It's the story of salvation and hope. It's the story of Jesus Christ, the King who deserves all the worship and glory. So often during Christmas we get caught up in consumerism, but it is time that the church rise up and worship Him fully and share the story of fulfilled promises with a world in need.

After visiting Wanblee, South Dakota last weekend, there is a renewed sense of urgency to talk about. We live in a world where things are dark and difficult and people desperately need Jesus and it begs the question "what are you living for?" Jesus left us with very clear marching orders, and if we really believe that what we believe is really real, we must give our entire lives for the Gospel.

Speaking about this passage, Martin Luther commented that 1 Peter 3:18-22 is a strange text and certainly more obscure than any other in the New Testament and one he did not know for sure what the apostle meant. However, we come to an understanding through this text that Christ died for the unrighteous and has called us to be made alive in the spirit and proclaim it through baptism in submission to our Lord, Jesus Christ.

After summing up our calling as Christians in various circumstances and reminding us that the Lord will look with favor on the righteous, Peter now calls us to fear God and not man. He calls us to make the name of Jesus hallowed in our every moment rather than worrying about the opinions of man. We should not fear the persecution, rather rejoice in the opportunity to suffer alongside Jesus for the sake of the Gospel. We should not worry about the approval of man, but solely seek the approval of our Lord. We need to hope in the promises of God.

After specific instruction to many different sections of the church, Peter now turns to address us all, as one, in order that we may help one another to become what the previous verses describe. He calls us to humbly love each other as brothers and sisters in Christ, to be united around the main thing, namely Jesus.

Men, where are you? This is the fundamental question that needs to be asked in the church today. Just as God called out to Adam in the garden, "Adam, where are you?" as he was hiding in his cowardice, the vast majority of men in the church are currently hiding from God and from their responsibilities, just like their father Adam. Men have been given the responsibility to be the head of their home, the head of their marriage and the head of their family. Many men abuse this responsibility by going in one of two directions. They either become a coward like Adam, who make excuses and avoid their responsibilities like he did, or, they sin in another way by taking Scripture out of context and becoming chauvinists. These guys don't cower from responsibility necessarily, but they are often abusive, neglectful, over-bearing, cruel, mean, and emotionally absent individuals. Whether cowards or chauvinists, if you are one of these men, you are in sin. You are not leading your family well and you are not loving and honoring your wife properly as Peter describes in verse 7. And if this is the case, it is a critically serious situation. So, serious Peter says, that God will no longer listen to your prayers! In other words, if men don't "Man up" and live the lives God has called us to live, God will effectively stop listening to us. While we have a flawed and sinful example of manhood and masculinity in our father Adam, we also have a perfect and sinless example of what it means to be a man in our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ. The Gospel message gives us the blueprint of what it means to be a man. Jesus didn't make excuses. Jesus didn't cower in the face of difficult times. Jesus didn't "lord over" others. Instead, He was a servant who took responsibility for things that were not His fault. He was out front as a bold leader who set an example for others to follow. It's time to stop playing games men. It's time to become the man that God intended you to be. Lead. Serve. Love. Honor. Look at Jesus. Look to Jesus. Look like Jesus.

In our society, the idea of submission to authority is an often distorted and misunderstood concept. This is especially true within the context of marriage. However, God has established authorities, structures, and systems for all human institutions. Be it government, the workplace, the church, or the home, God tells us to how Christians are to live in a way that will honor Him within these contexts. It is clear from Scripture that God is to be the ultimate authority within the home. Under God, the husband is to sacrificially, selflessly, and lovingly lead his wife and family. In other words, He is to lead the way Jesus would lead. In addition, the wife is to respect and honor her husband as he attempts to lead in a way that honors Jesus. When husbands and wives live within the structure that God has created, it is a beautiful thing and it works wonderfully. Submission is not an ugly thing, it is a beautiful thing. As a matter of fact, we see submission modeled best by Jesus as we see Him submit to God the Father time and time again in the Bible.

Continuing on with the theme of submission, Peter now deals with how Christians are to respond to ungodly or corrupt authorities in our lives. If, in everything we do, we are to point people to Jesus, what do we do when the odds are stacked against us and we are being treated unfairly? Peter makes clear in these verses that there will be times in our lives when every fiber in our being wants to rise up and rebel or lash out against those that we are serving under. However, he tell us that during those times we must look to Jesus' example on the cross and remember how He responded when He was treated unfairly. This is ultimately how we show God to this world and point people to Jesus during times of suffering.

God has established all human institutions for our good and for His glory. Therefore, when we choose to submit to and honor those institutions we actually worship God. However, if we choose to rebel against, disobey, or disrespect those institutions, we are actually in rebellions against God.

When Jesus calls someone to become His disciple He not only calls that person out of something (namely the bondage of sin and a destiny in hell), but He also calls that person to something. He calls them to a to a glorious purpose and mission in this life. Over the years, many Americans and American churches have seemed to lose vision of this purpose/mission. We have mistakenly viewed missions as something that is only done "overseas". This is not only a flawed view of scripture, but it has also proved to be detrimental to the health of the church in our country and to the advance of the Gospel. The bottom line is that if you are a christian you are, according to Jesus, a missionary. You have a mission to live. It's time to start living it!

In part three of our Elements series we discuss one of the most important (and often over looked) aspects of the Christian faith; Authentic Community. God has created us in His image as relational beings. As a result, we cannot live out our faith or grow in our faith the way that God calls us to without "doing life" with fellow believers. There are over fifty "one another's" in the New Testament that we are supposed to put into practice with our brothers and sisters in Christ (the Church). We are called to be a community within our communities that sticks out because we are living out these "one another's". This cannot be accomplished once per week at the Sunday morning worship service. Rather, it must be a regular, consistent, intentional part of the rhythm of our lives. At Village, we seek to accomplish this authentic Biblical community through our small group environments.

In part 1 of our "Elements" series we discuss three elements of the Sunday morning worship service. Preaching is a critical element of the Christian worship service. Preachers are called to herald or proclaim the word of God that results in worshipers better understanding, and as a result, celebrating God and the Scriptures. Singing to God is a form of worship that is discussed all over the Scriptures. We have been created as worshipers. But more importantly, we have been created to worship and celebrate the greatness of God. Our singing is our celebratory response to the person of God. We absorb the truth about God in our mind, which then awakens our hearts affections towards Him, which in turn overflows from our lips as we proclaim His excellencies. Tithing is a Biblical teaching throughout the Old Testament and is also a practice that Jesus affirms when He rebukes the Pharisees. The word tithe simply means the "first tenth". In the Old Testament, the Israelites would give beyond the first tenth and often as much as the first 25% of their income and produce to support the Levitical Priests and their work in the Temple. This was an act of worship. And while the New Testament does not explicitly teach that we are to tithe, it clearly teaches that we are to support the work of the Church and live extremely generous lives. We see this with Paul's praising of the Macedonians and Jesus' praising of the poor widow as she gave her offering. The tithe should not be the goal for the Christian, but rather the starting point of giving back to God what is already His. Our goal should be to go beyond the tithe and to a place of extreme generosity. Our Father set this example with His generosity towards us in all the good gifts that He has given us, most notably His Son Jesus Christ, who generously laid down everything He had for us as He died on the cross.

Jesus is the most controversial human being that ever walked the planet. As a matter of fact, in many people's eyes He is outright offensive. So much so, that it was His claims and His teachings which inevitably led to His murder upon a Roman cross. Is He offensive to you? Peter tells us that we will land in one of two camps. Either Jesus will be a "rock of offense" for us that we will stumble over all the days of our life, or He will be our Cornerstone. For the Christian, Jesus is Cornerstone. He is what we build our life upon. Our family, friendships, jobs, leisure, money, schooling, goals, legacy and ultimately our eternity is to be built on the only One that can withstand the weight of it all. His name is Jesus.

In chapter 1 verses 22-25, Peter has just instructed us regarding the importance of loving our fellow believers both earnestly and sincerely. Now, beginning in chapter 2, he begins to share obstacles to that love and different areas of sin that lead to divisions amongst God's people (the Church). As believers, we must declare war on two fronts. First, we must fight and cry out to God for a longing and craving for the "pure spiritual milk" which is the Word of God. Second, we must fight against the things that God hates (sin), namely malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander. It is only by battling on these two fronts that the individual Christian will grow. And likewise, it is only by battling against this sort of sin in the camp that the Church will remain unified and keep out the wolves that Scripture speaks about.

The essence of being born again is being person who "hopes fully in God". Their hope is no longer in the things of this world, rather, their hope is in Jesus Christ and His work on the cross. This hope will inevitably lead to a life of love for the believer. A love for God, a love for the lost and dying all around us, and specifically (as Peter writes) an earnest love for our brothers and sisters in Christ.

There are parts of the Bible that seem to be easier to understand and also easier to apply than other parts. However, it is critical that we recognize that all of the Bible is truth, therefore, we must apply all of the Bible to our lives. We cannot pick and choose which parts we are willing to accept or reject. In this message we tackle the third command in 1 Peter chapter 1. Here Peter tells Christians that they should conduct themselves with fear during throughout their lifetimes here on planet earth. While this command may not be a popular one in our American culture today, it is clearly Biblical and it is essential that we as the Church apply it to our lives.

In these verses Peter gives us the second command in the first 16 verses of chapter one. First he told us to "hope fully" in all that God is and all that God promises to us. Now, he tells us to "be holy" as God is holy. As Christians, we are called to make it our goal to live exemplary lives. We are to live lives that are morally and spiritually excellent. Without a doubt, this will be difficult and we will be tripped up along the way. Nevertheless, we are to aim for holiness and Christ-likeness in all that we do. This is the very essence of worship.

After spending the first twelve verses of chapter one celebrating and praising God for all that He is and all that He has done for us as believers, Peter now shifts gears and hands us the first command of this book. He tells us that, as Christians, we must "hope fully" in the grace that is coming to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ. In other words, we are to live with confident certainty of all that is to be ours as believers. This is our destiny. That being said, if we believe that this is our destiny, Peter tells us to orient our lives as though this is the case. With this in mind he urges us to do two things. First off, we must "prepare our minds for action" by studying and meditating on the Word of God. And second, we must remain "sober-minded" by eliminating elements of our lives that numb us to God and the grace that He has promised us.

Our salvation is something that the prophets of old and the angels are astonished by. What a gift we have to be known by our Creator and Savior in such an intimate way. In this sermon we discuss the magnificence of the salvation that Jesus has provided for us as believers.

In our society it is typical for people to assume that you either have joy or you have pain. The two generally don't intermingle. However, in Scripture we are taught something completely different. We are told over and over that it is possible to experience tremendous joy IN THE MIDST of pain. In fact, we are commanded to do so. While pain, heartache and trials are very real during our very short journey on this planet, it is essential that during these times we fight with all we are to experience the joy that God would have for us.

As God's children, we have a hope that is incomprehensible. However, it is not the same kind of hope that we are used to talking about in our western society. Rather, the hope that Peter calls us to have can be described more like "certainty". We should live with a certainty of the promises that God has made to us through Jesus Christ. Namely a certainty of the inheritance to come in eternity future. This world is not our home. We have a magnificent home awaiting us just around the bend. And when the troubles and difficulties of this life come, we should live our lives as though this were the case.

In this passage, Peter tells us that God has "caused us to be born again". And what we see in Scripture is that salvation is an act of God from beginning to end. God is Sovereign. In other words, He is ruling, reigning, and in control of all things. While this may not sit well with our American independence, it is simply the reality of the Bible. In this message, we will explore the sovereignty of God and His role in the new birth.

Peter wrote this letter that bears his name to gentile Christians that were scattered around the region (which is modern day Turkey). These early Christians were experiencing persecution and were facing significant trials. Therefore, Peter wanted to both encourage and challenge them to stand firm and persevere during these difficult times. In this introduction, we get some background on this letter and learn what Peter means when he says that we are "exiles" in this world as Christians.

In this sermon we discuss the beginnings of the church. We also discuss the fact that Jesus not only invented the Church, but that He is currently still the Head of, and Leader of it. Beyond this, He still has a great purpose for the Church today.

Are we saved by our faith alone in Jesus Christ? Is it necessary for us to have works or good deeds in addition to our faith? These are questions that have been debated for many years. And, while on the surface it may seem that James and Paul disagree on this subject, after a bit of digging, it becomes clear that the two men are actually on the exact same page.

What if Jesus actually rose from the dead 2000 years ago? Should it change the direction of your life? Would it impact your thinking, values, and actions? On this Easter Sunday, we are focusing on the facts surrounding the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Additionally, we will be discussing the first and most important response that we must have to the fact of the resurrection if we desire to be a follower of Jesus.

Most everyone agrees that Jesus died a brutal death. However, most people don't quite understand why it had to be that way. He was not a criminal. As a matter of fact, He was not guilty of anything at all. Yet, he was executed in a fashion that was reserved for only the most despicable of people in his culture. In this message we seek to discuss the nature, circumstances and necessity of the execution of Jesus Christ.

One of the most commonly asked questions in life is, "What is the purpose of my life?". We have all probably asked this at some point in our lives. God addresses this question many different ways in Scripture. However, the answer is always the same. He tells us that He has bought us with the death of His Son on the cross. More than that, He has purchased us so that we might live our lives in such a way that brings Him glory. And the beauty of God's design is this: The way that we bring Him the most glory is by finding our supreme satisfaction in Him. We get joy, love, forgiveness, peace, grace, mercy and so on; and God gets glory!

God is love. God loves you. We've all heard these statements before. But what do they mean? And do we even believe them? In this message we will discuss the dangers of taking our culture's definitions of love and casting them upon God. We will also define true Biblical love and what the ramifications of that love are for humanity.

Bad things happen in this life. Sometimes they seem to come out of nowhere and don't seem to make any sense. If God is good, why would He allow such things? In this sermon, we will look at some rock solid Biblical truths that will help us answer some of these tough questions. Primarily we will look at the life of Joseph, who went through seemingly unnecessary suffering and affliction throughout his life. However, God was at work behind the scenes all along the way.

Jesus went and suffered "outside the gate" of Jerusalem as He took on the cross, in order that He might save (sanctify) us. He set the example and He calls Christians to join Him "outside the gate" in order that we may partner with Him in His mission of bringing hope to a lost and dying world. What will you do? Will you choose Him? Will you "bear the reproach He endured"? Will you take up your cross? Or, will you choose the "American Dream"?

Men and women are different. This seems like an obvious statement, but unfortunately in our society, this needs to be stated and stated clearly. However, while men and women are different, it is also true that in the sight of God they are equal in every way. Created in His image and for His glory. Both with tremendous gifts, yet with different roles to play. If we want to live Biblically, and within God's design for our lives, we must embrace our roles and not allow society to dictate our view of manhood and womanhood.

Men and women are different. This seems like an obvious statement, but unfortunately in our society, this needs to be stated and stated clearly. However, while men and women are different, it is also true that in the sight of God they are equal in every way. Created in His image and for His glory. Both with tremendous gifts, yet with different roles to play. If we want to live Biblically, and within God's design for our lives, we must embrace our roles and not allow society to dictate our view of manhood and womanhood.

On February 25th, 2011 we had a dinner to present the Vision for Village Church.

The Bible is not as complicated as we often times try to make it. Jesus is very clear about what He expects from His followers. He wants us to burn hot for HIm. He wants us to go hard after Him. To claim His name and do anything less literally makes Him ill. The good news is that when we are in our rebellion and while we keep Him "on the porch" of our lives, He never stops pursuing us and He never stops knocking on the door...NEVER. He wants nothing more than for us to fling wide the door to our hearts and let Him in to have intimate fellowship. There is nothing greater than this. There is no one who can satisfy like Jesus!