New River Valley Church

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.

Earthly kingdoms, sacred places & "perfect" people are what so many can build their foundation upon when it comes to following Christ. Jesus challenges his listeners to re-examine their foundations and build on his words instead.

After studying the first half of John 15 and Jesus' teachings about abiding in him and obeying his commands, we look at Jesus' commissioning of his disciples to go and bear fruit as those 'set apart' by him to testify about him. We are invited to go alongside the Holy Spirit and participate in his mission to the world. 

Persecuted, imprisoned & chained up... and yet unhindered? What does it really mean for us to be unhindered when we face daily obstacles? We take a look at the final chapter of Luke-Acts and Paul's example to answer this question. 

Seeing the church as "radiant" and "holy" can be difficult when so many of us have been hurt by "the church". Understanding the distinction between God's Kingdom and the Church is necessary to understand the expectations God has for us. 

How do you react to the storms in your life? There are times where we need to experience a physical saving in the here and now, yet also hold on to an eternal understanding of the process of being saved. God is present in the storms and assures us that not even a single hair from our heads will perish.

In Paul's evangelistic presentation to King Herod, he uses his audience with the King to bring light where there is darkness. Aware of King Agrippa's lifestyle and background, we can take notes on how Paul approached this difficult conversation with someone who lived and believed differently from himself.

For millennia humankind have been telling their stories - personal, communal and historical. There is power in our stories and like Paul, we need to tell our stories not only for our benefit but for the benefit of others. We each have stories that our communities need - what is stopping us from telling those stories?

Will Hutchins highlights how faith and preparation can go hand in hand. We need to have a planned and intentional life in order to take take those leaps of faith and vice-versa, have faith to be able to live in that way. 

At our special graduate honoring Sunday worship service we are reminded that although transitions can bring out the worst in us, they can also be catalysts for transformational growth.

God is inviting us our of a life of scarcity, and into a life of abundance. This kind of life begins with a relationship with God that overflows.

The undoing of all evil since the very first human fall. We take a journey back to the beginning of the story of God and his people to compare and contrast parallel stories which give us a new look into the resurrection story. 

In preparation for Easter we remember our Lord and/or Savior? How do we see King Jesus in our lives and how does that affect how we live?

Kameron preaches out of Acts 19:1-6.

Have you ever noticed deficiencies in your actions or character? When we notice our own deficiencies, they can begin to cripple us. Particularly when we are unsure about our identity. In our text today we see Spirit-led examples of having hard conversations and an identity in Jesus.