Journey RVA Podcast

It may be the first truth we learned about Christianity—so simple it's the theme of Sunday school songs. But really grasping this truth can transform your life. Understanding that God wants to give you immeasurably more starts right here. Immeasurably more is possible for you, but not until something happens in you.  

When we're kids, we dream big. Life's possibilities seem limitless. As we grow older, setbacks and disappointments in our careers, marriages, and family life can wear us down and cause us to pursue contentment in all the wrong places. In this series, we'll explore a passage in Ephesians that tells us how God's plans for our lives are immeasurably greater than we can imagine. We only need to trust...

An angel announced "peace on earth" at the birth of Jesus, and yet the season of Christmas can be anything but peaceful. So what was the "peace" that the Angel proclaimed? In what ways can we experience the peace that was promised?

During the Christmas season, some people find it easy to be happy while others struggle with loneliness and sorrow. Yet some who are in the midst of suffering still find joy. How is that possible? What if there was a way to find joy regardless of your situation? There is, and it's found in God's favor and grace.

Christmas may be the most loved and most dreaded season all at the same time. People look forward to seeing some family and friends, but dread seeing others. Each of us probably has someone we have bitterness towards, but part of God's desire for us this Christmas involves trading in bitterness for something far better. 

The Bible did not create Christianity. Christianity is the result of an event (the resurrection) that created a movement (the church) that produced sacred and reliable texts that were collected and bound into a book (the Bible). But how do we approach not being at peace with everything we read in the Bible? Paul—the apostle, Pharisee, author, preacher, and church planter—offers us clarity and conf...

The Old Testament chronicles God's redemptive, sequential activity in history. It's a fabulous, gritty, epic history of the Hebrew people in which, over and over, Israel is reminded that they are a divine means to an end. So, maybe instead of seeing the Old Testament as a spiritual guidebook or a storyline that needs to be tidied up, we should see it as something even better: the history of God pr...

"In the beginning..." can be a loaded phrase - one that forces us into debate and doubt. But maybe we're missing the point of Genesis 1:1a point Moses made to a world where the violence and injustice of the gods justified and legitimized the violence and injustice of human rulers. Moses introduced a radically different, unparalleled, and untested worldview.  

Most of us know some Bible stories, but very few of us know the story of the Bible. And you may be surprised to discover it's a story that doesn't actually begin in the beginning. It begins with the accounts of a few men who sat down to record the death and resurrection of Jesus. It begins with the words of his followers who were compelled to document the events that had changed everything for the...

Long before there were Christian Scriptures, there were Christians—men and women whose faith began with an empty tomb. These eyewitnesses to the resurrection experienced an event so extraordinary that it changed their lives, and what they gave their lives to, forever. But now a generation is walking away from their faith as their confidence in the Bible is dismantled. They assume that as the Bible...

Is the church still relevant today? Well, try to imagine a culture without the Church. What would that culture look like? Better yet, would that be a culture in which you would want to live? In this final message of the series, the case was made that Christianity, unlike any other religion or civilization, offers not just a different way of living, but a better way of living. We explored how Chris...

People are willing to talk about spirituality, faith, and God. When Jesus is introduced into the conversation, however, the mood generally changes and people are less receptive. This isn't new. So what are followers of Jesus to do? Just talk about love, peace, kindness, good deeds, and helping the poor? These are all good things, but they can't bring salvation. This is why can't keep quiet about t...

Your body has many different parts, each with different and unique functions and yet they all work together for the purpose you choose. Did you know that Christians are a part of what the Apostle Paul called "the body of Christ"? As a follower of Jesus, you are a member of his body - the Church. Just as your body has different members with different functions, so the body of Jesus has different me...

As Christians, we believe God is calling us to have a positive impact within our community and around the world and we are committed to clearly communicating the love and grace of God to everyone we meet. There are a lot of things we could focus our efforts upon, but none as important as our ministry to the next generation.

We all believe exercise is good for us, but we don't always head to the gym or go on a run. But to get in shape we have to exercise. We have to get off the couch and do it. And, isn't it easier when we have someone to keep us accountable? The same is true of our faith; we can only get so far on our own.

Certain experiences in life mark us and set us on a new path. There are events that impact the world in a similar way. In this message, we will explore one event that stands out more than any other and how it can impact your life.

Life gets busy. Priorities compete. We loose focus on what is most important. About that time, we read the words of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), and we are called into focus on what really matters. Jesus' words cut through the noise and cause us to pause and take inventory.

Only one person can ensure that we end up somewhere on purpose. And that person isn't in the House of Representatives or the White House. They're in our house. In fact, we look at that person in the mirror every morning. The reality is that we face our greatest leadership challenge every morning when we face ourselves.

The first step to finding peace in a relationship is to repent if you've done wrong or to forgive if you've been wronged. But no matter how badly you want peace, there are some relationships that may never be fully restored. What do you do to find peace about a relationship when you can't find peace in the relationship?

When there's bad blood in a relationship, the easiest thing to do is to let resentment and bitterness grow without addressing the issue. That's the path of least resistance. It doesn't make the conflict go away, but it avoids the relational mess of having to deal with the other person. Jesus calls his followers to a higher standard. He says that if we have a problem with another person, we should...

What do you do when you have bad blood with someone who owes you something? Bad blood is costly and complicated. It costs you peace and complicates your other relationships. If you don't find peace in that "bad blood" relationship, your other relationships will suffer. The good news is that you can have peace about the relationship even without peace in the relationship.

Check out this secret to finding peace about a difficult relationship even when you can't find peace in the relationship.

If there's a gap between where you are and where you wish you were, this simple principle can close that gap.

There is something that prohibits many of us from getting to where we want to be, or to where God wants us to be. It is something we all struggle with and most of the time we don't even realize it. It just happens. Unfortunately, we don't think we have any control over it … but we do.