Pastoral Perspectives

You've certainly experienced conversations in which the person you are talking to clearly seems to have stopped listening carefully to you. In this episode we consider an underappreciated aspect of loving one another: listening well. It is not just a skill, it is an act of love.

How is a Christian to process and work through anger towards God?

In episode 40, we looked at how the Bible describes true spiritual maturity. We continue this mini-series in this episode, looking at the first of several unbiblical "isms," pathways to spiritual maturity that many people are drawn to. Pietism makes spiritual maturity exclusively about the experiential and devotional aspects of a person's life.

We continue our series on eschatology 101, discussing various key theological topics and debates among Christians. When will the rapture happen? Before the tribulation? Halfway though the tribulation? After the tribulation? We look at each of these views, and the biblical arguments for them. Hopefully it is helpful to you.

"People just don't get it." "They have no idea how hard this really is." "No one truly understands my pain." How should suffering Christians process and sort through these kinds of thoughts biblically?

Use of pornography is a sin that often goes under-addressed in the church. In this episode, we talk about the nature of the sin, how Christians must engage in warfare against it, and how we can overcome it by the grace of God and the power of the Spirit.

What does it mean to be spiritually mature? What does it look like? How does the Bible describe a mature Christian? In this episode, we look at some key biblical aspects of true maturity as the introduction to a series that will challenge various counterfeit models of spiritual maturity.   Document Referenced in the Episode: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oxSb4tV-9keaE2ApqQ0EVeVz1i0QkDIPFsk3Z...

The topic of UFOs and UAPs has become prevalent online and even in the news lately, with the US government making some previously classified reports available to the public. We figured we should spend a little time talking about how Christians should think about these things.

Every church has some philosophy on how to minister to the children of members and attendees. How do we think about this at VBC? We discuss our philosophy in this episode.

We've all been there. What should you consider when you don't feel like going to church on Sunday?

In this episode, we discuss what the Bible has to say about divorce, how we should think about it as believers, and how we might counsel others who are considering or going through divorce.

How does the truth that there is only one Lawgiver and Judge relate to how Christians deal with their many differences? In this episode, Zach and Kyle discuss one of the most important (and often overlooked) doctrines of the Christian life, which is the doctrine of Christian Liberty.

Pastor Ryan shares his testimony of how he came to faith in Christ and ended up in pastoral ministry here at VBC.

Christians are familiar with the command to bear one another's burdens, but many are less familiar with what Paul says in the same passage regarding the reality that "each will have to bear their own load" (Galatians 6:1-5). What are we to learn from this passage regarding helping others bear burdens, and taking responsibility for our own loads?

It's fairly common for modern Western churches to appoint a "Lead Pastor" or "Senior Pastor." Why doesn't VBC do so? Who is the Lead Pastor of the church?

In this episode, we continue the series on eschatology. What are the primary areas of disagreement among Christians when it comes to the theology of the end times? Chart: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1D93yzCd0BFcpGTnj3YP4C0dhUELAqYkYeB78d5o-tT0/edit?usp=sharing

In this episode we address another question from a member of our church: How can we honor our parents? This isn't just something that children need to think about; adults need to as well. So we take some time to address adults with parents and kids with parents as we discuss.

Eschatology is the study of "last things" or the "end times." What are the main and most vital eschatological doctrines taught by the Bible? It is important to understand how much agreement there is among Christians about these things, because there is a tendency (especially online) to focus on the more controversial matters that Christians often disagree about. This is part 2 of our discussion.

Eschatology is the study of "last things" or the "end times." What are the main and most vital eschatological doctrines taught by the Bible? It is important to understand how much agreement there is among Christians about these things, because there is a tendency (especially online) to focus on the more controversial matters that Christians often disagree about.

It's fairly common for some Christians to struggle with assurance of their salvation, or to go through seasons where assurance is particularly elusive. In this episode, we discuss this, hoping it will encourage believers to look to Christ and rest in Him as they seek assurance.

We don't worship statues, so we don't need to worry about idolatry as Christians, right? In this episode we discuss this issue. Idolatry is first a matter of the heart before it is any outward action, and we need to take it seriously as believers.

In this pod we share how we as pastors approach the topic of baptizing children at VBC, and some principles that should be helpful to parents of kids who want to be baptized as well.

As Christians, we can always grow and improve in sharing the gospel with others. In this episode we discuss how we might do that.

Today we share an overview of the main Bible translation philosophies out there, and encourage you to make use of them accordingly.

Several people asked us to address how we approach the topic of women in the local church. In this episode we look at what the Bible says, and share how we interpret and apply it here at VBC.