Church in the Valley - Ontario Ranch Campus

The cultural American Dream involves achieving a higher and higher level status and importance. The way to get ahead seems like it should come through pushing our way through the crowd or stepping on others along the way, but Choosing humility brings God’s blessing and exalting.

Being a part of God’s mission to help people come to know Christ is the most fulfilling thing we can be a part of…Everything else we give ourselves to is too small. God’s desire is to bring His salvation to the ends of the world.

Telling others about Christ is the focal point of the church. This is what being a missionary is all about. However, we are not meant to be a Lone Ranger missionary. God wants us to team together to tell, bring, and show Christ’s love to those around us.

We tend to think in “us” and “them” categories in life and this can distance ourselves from people who are not like us. The same distance can exist with Christians. However, to be effective in evangelism we must learn from Jesus who bridged the distance with people and spent time with “them.”

Everyday Missionaries carry secrets the world needs to know. We carry the secret things of God. Christians cannot keep these secrets to ourselves—we must be faithful to tell them to others because God has entrusted these secrets to all who follow Him.

We'll show the value of serving from God’s perspective and how the most important in His Kingdom are servants.

Our tithe is a percentage that represents the whole of our wealth (and life). When we give a portion of our income, we acknowledge God’s rightful place in our lives.

The Word of God is both a “level” and “compass” for our lives. When we gauge our words and actions by Scripture, we can bring them in line to be straight (or level) and pleasing to God and also points to true north orienting us to God’s will as we face daily conversations and challenges.

When we worship God, we give Him the honor that is due Him as our Maker and the one who died for us. We come together in worship to recognize His rightful place in our lives.

When unfaithfulness exists in relationships, trust erodes and relationships die. Love and Faithfulness are the keys to rebuild trust.

Jealousy and Rivalry flow out of a deep rooted selfishness to get our own way. When we see an advantage that another has—or may get—we resent that they have it (Jealousy) and rival against them to get what they get (Selfish Ambition). We need the Lord's help for our attitudes and actions to change.

Using others to meet my own needs appears in movies a lot and in this continuation of the story of Tarzan, we find him being manipulated to accomplish the goals of the authority over him but is lead by lies and deception.

Poor communication is a major factor in most conflict. When it’s time to listen we may talk and when it’s time to encourage we may want to instruct. The Bible actually provides a helpful guide for communication. Our words should edify/build up according to one’s need.

The characters both professionally and personally keep everyone in the dark about who they are out of self-preservation. This is actually a struggle we all deal with. If we don’t watch out, this can lead to isolation and not being known which goes against how God made us since he made us for community.

A major relationship killer is pride. When we refuse to ask forgiveness when we’ve blown it or grant forgiveness when someone has wronged us—major cracks begin to appear and widen in any relationship.

God doesn’t want His people to be isolated from the world or infiltrated by it – he wants us to be insulated from cultural ideas and values that will translate into harmful attitudes and actions.

Followers of Jesus can look forward to spending an eternity with Him. God also wants us to experience the joy of walking with Him in this life by faithfully fixing our eyes on Jesus, keeping a firm grip on our identity in Christ, staying on the right path, and intently listening to God's voice.

In the future, God will wrap up the story of the earth as we know it. He will deal with the problems that have plagued mankind. The curses will be reversed and we see God setting up a future with His people.

When God’s people were floundering in sin and lacking reliable leadership, God Himself stepped into human history. The climax of Jesus' life was when he willingly suffered and died to pay for mankind’s rebellion.

Leadership is something we see wired into creation. Good leadership provides protection and God blesses and can guide through it. God raised up different kinds of leaders over groups of people who played a role(s) for a season.

Throughout the Bible, we see that we are in a fight (Cosmic War – Ephesians 6). We are always facing opposition (Flesh, World, Devil) and if we will battle effectively as He directs, He gives the victory.

We see throughout the stories in Genesis that God can be depended on to rescue His people.

The first family moves on and multiplies as God had commanded. Sin shows up right away in the next generation, and has been a problem ever since.

Everything in the story takes a major turn with the introduction of a villain and human rebellion. Despite the boundaries, relationship and provisions, the first man and woman decided to rebel from God resulting in severe consequences. Surprisingly we are reminded here that even when things fall apart, God’s love and perfect plan prevails.

In the beginning of this story, we see the eternal uncreated God create an inhabitable planet prepared for His prized creation. They were flesh and blood living beings who would bear His image before creation. God related to them and gave a mandate set direction for the focus of their lives