Poll-arized – Week 3
Biblical Sexuality: In our current culture, it seems like there are an infinite number of ways to embrace and find completeness as a person through human sexuality. When we distill the conversations down however, there really seem to be two main narratives being promoted. Either you are entitled to and should embrace every sexual desire […]
Poll-arized – Week 2
Our Care for the Poor: The more consistently we read Scripture, the more we see certain themes being repeated. This is not simply a matter of literary style – these recurring themes are one of the clearest pictures of God’s heart on display! A running motif from the very beginning of God’s relationship with His […]
Poll-arized – Week 1
Sanctity of Human Life: Life matters. That’s something just about any people group from any part of the world from any religion or worldview have in common. For some reason, religious or not, humanity has this awareness that we are something unique in the world. We are something other than the rest of the animal […]
Refresh – Week 4
Church Unified = Christ Glorified: When the church is unified, Christ is glorified. In the longest prayer of Jesus, known as His “High Priestly Prayer”, or perhaps the true “Lord’s Prayer”, Jesus prays for the oneness of believers. Why? So that the world will know that Jesus was sent by the Father. When the church […]
Refresh – Week 3
The Power of Loving Well: Love is patient, love is kind, love is…always concerned with being right? That isn’t how the rest of everyone’s favorite wedding verse goes! Regardless of your relationship status, the truth of this Scripture applies to each and every one of us. Jesus not only calls us to be loving, but […]
Refresh – Week 2
Trusting God Refreshes Us: Now possibly more than ever, we need stability. Every one of us has and is continuing to experience uncertain events, requirements for living life that change daily, and news streams that feed into every fear and worry we have. When everything around us is constantly in flux, where can we place […]
Refresh – Week 1
The Necessity of Lament: Looking back over the past five months is a daunting endeavor. We’ve been living on the edge of uncertainty for what feels like a lifetime! If you were to pause and think about your responses to each new unfolding event since March, how would you describe them? Most of us have […]
No Filter – Week 9
Jesus Divides: The no filter reality of Jesus’ teachings is that the Gospel message will divide people. It divides people in religiously different countries across the globe, and if lived out truly, will divide even in the midst of our quasi-Judeo-Christian culture of the United States. Dying to self and living a life in service […]
No Filter – Week 8
Ready Servants: Armageddon. The collapse of America. Jesus’ second coming. A global health crisis. Everywhere, believers and nonbelievers are asking the same question, “Are we coming to the end?” As Christians, we know that Christ is coming again at some point and will make all things new, so at some point there will be an […]
No Filter – Week 7
Right Fear, Wrong Fear: What does it mean to fear God? It’s a concept found in both Old and New Testaments and, for us modern day readers of the Bible, it doesn’t quite add up. God is good and merciful and love – so why does Jesus tell us to fear God instead of man? […]
No Filter – Week 6
The Spiritual Barrier of Hypocrisy: Hypocrites. Look familiar? This is the Greek word for hypocrisy. Originally it referred to any person wearing a mask, like actors. In 2020 though, it gets personal. It’s not an accidental slip of the tongue or brief moment of frustration; we’re talking about ways we know we are failing…and acting […]
No Filter – Week 5
More Dangerous than Demons: The most dangerous place you could be right now is here – at church. How about that for a no filter? It seems harsh, but what CVCYouth Pastor Joe Valenti has prepared for us is a stark reality that even Jesus and the Old Testament prophets preached on multiple times. Israel, […]
