Passion Creek Church

In the middle of teaching on prayer, Jesus tells us to ask, “Give us today our daily bread,” “forgive our sins,” and “deliver us from the evil one” (Matthew 6:11–13). These requests span a spectrum: from the mundane, to the messy, to the monumental. Daily bread reflects ordinary needs we often overlook—food for the day, a safe commute, help with our to-do list. “Forgive our sins” gets messy, confr...

If the goal of prayer is to delight in God’s presence and develop deeper communion with Him, few of us want to settle for a one-sided relationship. At some point in our prayer journey, we’ll want to actually hear from Him. This is what Scripture calls discernment. And while prayer is about delighting in our personal relationship with God by sharing our hearts with Him, it’s also about learning His...

It’s pretty significant that the one time we’re told the disciples ask Jesus to teach them something, they say, “Teach us to pray” ( Luke 11:1 ). After everything they saw Jesus doing—preaching, performing miracles, healing, casting out demons—what caught their attention was the devotion and commitment Jesus seemed to have when it came to prayer. When Jesus answered his disciples’ request, the fir...

When Jesus teaches on the deadly sin of Lust in Matthew 5, he’s addressing a dep- rooted problem in the human heart: the desire for excess at the expense of others. Most often, Lust happens when our sexual desires override our capacity to love and serve others, but Lust can be identified in more ways than just sexual desire. Anytime we use and manipulate other people for our own pleasure or gain,...

On Easter Sunday we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. By rising from the dead and walking out of the grave, Jesus defeated the three main enemies of humanity: sin, Satan, and death. It’s good news for all of us, but only if we’re willing to accept it. In Matthew 11, Jesus responds with judgement towards those who consistently reject Him and His miracles. But by the end of the chapter, Jesus ext...

Fickleness might not be one of the seven historically recognized deadly sins, but it is prevalent in our community and it is deadly. All of us shy away from difficult conversations, give up at the first sign of discomfort, and loosen our commitments when we’re inconvenienced. But in the Garden of Gethsemane, just before his crucifixion, Jesus models what faithfulness looks like. By bringing our pa...

All of us are familiar with anger. It’s usually our first reaction when our pride is hurt, our wills are obstructed, or when we’re wounded by others. And this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. God himself gets angry towards sin, wickedness, and injustice. But unlike God’s anger, ours isn’t often righteous. Instead, it festers within us and warps our ability to truly love others. Anger, properly under...

At first glance, the sin of Sloth doesn’t seem all that bad. Most of us who live hurried, busy lives could probably use a little more Sloth to help us slow down. But Sloth isn’t just slowing down or being lazy. According to the scriptures, it’s the combination of two sins that have plagued humanity from the beginning of time: avoidance and apathy. We give into the sin of Sloth when we choose to av...

Of all the deadly sins, envy is one of the most damaging and undetectable. We casually look down on those who are more successful than us, we ignore the bitterness that takes root in our hearts towards others, and we slowly begin to see the people God has called us to live in community with as enemies rather than family members. But as dangerous and elusive as envy is, the gospel gives us a way ou...

Most of us probably wouldn’t consider ourselves “gluttons.” But when we look at how we spend our free time, how we respond to boredom or hardship, or what we do for “rest,” we likely find ourselves giving into excess and impulse. By definition, this is gluttony: consumption without contentment. To find happiness or satisfaction, we often chase cheap impulses, or what some call “pseudo-joys.” But t...

At the top of the list of the Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5 is love. But as simple and cliché as it sounds, love is one of the most difficult fruits to embody. And what most often prevents us from loving others well is greed. One of the seven deadly sins, and one of the most difficult sins to free ourselves from, greed prevents us from loving others and serving God sacrificially. We express o...

At first glance, the fruit of the Spirit listed in  Galatians 5  seems either like an impossible checklist or an arbitrary virtue list. But Paul’s instruction to “walk by the Spirit” so we can bear fruit actually goes back to the Garden of Eden. God commands his people to be fruitful, and he promises to help them do it. After the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, he sends us his Holy Spirit to...

One of the sharpest and most consistent criticisms God gives against His people throughout the scriptures is the sin of neglect. As God’s people, the Israelites were chosen as a nation among nations to bring God’s light to a dark world. God’s people were always supposed to care for the poor and marginalized, and to bring the good news of God’s Kingdom to the lost around them. But rather than care...

Fasting is hard because it’s a form of self-denial. We suddenly become aware of our weakness, frailty, and imminence. It’s a reminder that our bodies need sustenance to survive, and without food, we’ll eventually die. But just like our bodies need food for life, our souls need God. David knew this well when he fasted and pleaded with God in Psalm 69. As he denies his body food, he learns to confes...

In Psalm 63 David is a King on the run. His wealth, power, and possessions have all been stripped away and he finds himself in a desert, fleeing for his life while his own son tries to kill him. And yet, in this season of pain, David’s deepest longings are satisfied by God’s presence. Though most of us today won’t experience our lives endangered in a desert, we will find ourselves in seasons of de...

As we begin our fasting practice, we must first come to terms with the reality that most of us have a low view of our bodies and how they relate to our spirituality. Like the rest of the western world, followers of Jesus tend to either worship their bodies or treat them like an evil with desires that need to be controlled. And there’s some truth to this. Our bodies are both broken and redeemed. Bu...

To become the 4th soil, we need to become people with both courage and clarity in sharing the gospel. But most of us are too consumed by fear, shame, and confusion, and our attempts at becoming effective evangelists fall short. We fear losing friendships and facing rejection, we’re ashamed of the offensiveness of the way of Jesus, and we’re confused by what the gospel actually is. Timothy, Paul’s...

We live in a pivotal moment of our culture. Societal upheaval, corruption, and fear create the potential for another major shift in our society, either toward ruin or renewal. And while the world around us gives in to panic and distraction, the call for the church remains the same: endure hardship. In  2 Timothy 4 , this is the command Paul gives to Timothy and his church as they wrestle with the...

We are living in the 4th quarter—a time of urgency and opportunity to consecrate our lives and become the fourth soil. Drawing from  Mark 4 , the call is to resist distractions, align ourselves with God’s Word, and bear lasting fruit. Today, we focus on the chokehold of deceitful desires and how self-control, powered by the Holy Spirit, frees us to live as God intended. Modern culture has shifted...

We live in an urgent time. With the church in decline, deconstruction increasing, and people abandoning their faith in droves, followers of Jesus need to know how to navigate this cultural moment. And Jesus offers us an answer. In Mark 4, he tells a parable about a man who plants seeds in four different types of soil. Most of the seeds are fruitless, except in the 4th soil. Our goal at Passion Cre...

Every Christmas, we embark on the journey of Advent, reflecting on the hope, peace, joy, and love brought by Christ’s first coming and ultimately brought to the full at His second coming. But love—especially God’s love—can be the hardest to understand and accept. This teaching explores God’s profound love through the four Gospels, using a poem, a prophecy, a purpose statement, and a parable.

In this Advent message from  Luke 2, we  explore how chronic anxiety has gripped our society, robbing us of playfulness and joy. Drawing on insights from Luke’s account of the shepherds, Pastor Trey VanCamp reveals that joy is not just an emotion but a motor—a driving force that sustains us in the tension of the “already, not yet” of God’s Kingdom. By embracing joy as both a miracle and a muscle,...

In this episode, we dive into the first Sunday of Advent, exploring the profound theme of hope. Through the stories of Zechariah, Herod, and Mary, we reflect on how biblical hope isn't mere wishful thinking but a tangible, future-oriented anticipation rooted in God's promises. From Zechariah's skepticism to Herod's fear and Mary's faithful response, we see how hope challenges and transforms us. Jo...

Our church gathers every Sunday at 9:15a & 11a at Queen Creek Junior High. 20435 South Old Ellsworth Road, Queen Creek, AZ https://passioncreek.church/sundays/