Sunday Sermons from The Village Chapel

The God Who Remembers The Gospel According to Luke - Luke 1 The Village Chapel - 08/11/2024 The Gospel According to Luke was written so that we might know with certainty who Jesus is (1:1-4). Luke doesn't begin his account directly with the birth of Jesus; instead, he starts with the story of a childless couple named Zechariah and Elizabeth, set in a dark season in the life of God's peop...

Worshiping and Witnessing The Minor Prophets: Habakkuk 3 The Village Chapel - 08/04/2024 Habakkuk 3 opens with Habakkuk saying that he has heard the report of the Lord. What is the report you have heard of the Lord? What is the story you have been told about God and where does it come from? Why does this matter? What if the true story of the Lord found in His word could transform us from wondering...

Watching and Waiting The Minor Prophets: Habakkuk 2 The Village Chapel - 07/28/2024 The Old Testament prophet Habakkuk asked God some sincere and hard questions in chapter 1, questions like, ‘How long, Lord? How long will you let evil prevail?’ Now, in chapter 2, Habakkuk has positioned and postured himself to watch and wait for the Lord’s answer. God does indeed answer, but his answer curiously i...

Wondering and Wrestling The Minor Prophets: Habakkuk 1:1-2:1 The Village Chapel - 07/21/2024 Habakkuk was an Old Testament prophet who lived in a time marked by acrimony, wickedness and violence. With that difficult context and yet, given what he believed to be true about God, Habakkuk had some honest questions about God’s silence and God’s sovereignty. What did Habakkuk do with his questions? He...

The Tyranny of Pride The Minor Prophets: Obadiah The Village Chapel - 07/14/2024 Obadiah, the smallest book in the Old Testament, vividly depicts one of the biggest enemies of the human soul: pride. This prophetic book sheds light on the deception and destruction that pride of heart can bring, yet it points forward to the hope of a Kingdom that decisively reverses its tyranny. Join Pastor Tommy as...

Living for What Will Last The Minor Prophets: Haggai The Village Chapel - 07/07/2024 What does it mean to live a life of significance? In a recent study, 1/4 people in the USA said that they feel their life has no meaning or purpose. In a world where people are starving for meaning, what hope does the letter of Haggai have to offer? During the time of this letter, the Israelites have fallen under...

The Prodigal Prophet Encounters God’s Lavish Mercy The Minor Prophets: Jonah 3 & 4 The Village Chapel - 06/30/2024 What happens when a reluctant prophet delivers a word from the Lord to a group of people whom the prophet despises and wishes God would destroy instead of save? For that matter, how do we relate and respond towards those we regard as “Other?” How do we treat people who are deeply...

You probably already know the story from when you were growing up. It was probably called “Jonah and the Whale,” or “A Whale of a Tale,” or something like that. Well, the fact is the OT book of Jonah is not primarily about a whale or about whether or not there was a fish big enough to swallow a full-grown, adult human being and then hold him in its stomach for three days and three nights. No, Jona...

Have you wondered whether there will come a day when evil will be eradicated, justice will be done and everything broken in the world will be set right? We have and that’s why we believe you will love studying the book of Joel, especially this final segment in our series of studies in Joel. Here we read about what God intends to do about all that is wrong in the world. Five times in three chapters...

Events like the locust plague described in the book of Joel are often classified as “natural disasters.” But natural disasters often lead us to ask questions: Why did this happen? Where was God when this happened? Why did this happen here and now? Why did it happen to those people, or to us? Have we done something to offend God? Is God trying to get our attention in some way? Joel framed his answe...

The Book of Joel, one of the twelve Minor Prophets, opens with a devastating scene. A swarm of locusts had invaded the land, decimated crops and shriveled up the resources of God’s people. As the story unfolds, we see that the people's hearts had become spiritually dull. The worship of God had dried up. Even before the locusts had come, the people of God were spiritually asleep.  Join Pastor...

The Apostle Peter senses his time on earth is drawing to a close and writes to his beloved church, warning them of false teachers and reminding them that the return of Christ will come, no matter what some scoffers say. What can we know about the end times and the return of Christ? What remains a mystery surrounding this great day, and how should we live in light of the return of Jesus? Join Pasto...

As we continue our series in the letter of 2 Peter, we will dive into the cautionary message of chapter 2, where Peter warns his audience about the dangers of false prophets and deceitful teachings. Join us as we explore how these ancient warnings are extremely relevant to our lives today, teaching us how to discern truth from deception while remaining steadfast in our own faith. As we gain a grea...

2 Peter reminds us that Christianity is not the move from vice to virtue, but rather the move from both vice and virtue to grace. But Peter is not shy about reminding us that we are not passive in the process of sanctification. What kind of person was Peter? And why should we be interested in what he has to say about growth in the consistency and stability of our faith? Wasn’t he the guy that deni...

The Apostle Peter writes his first letter to a group of believers facing the heat of increasing persecution, suffering, and the temptations of a decadent culture. For the weary recipients of his letter and us today, Peter ends his correspondence with the same great hope he began his letter with—the resurrected Jesus.  Join Pastor Tommy as we mine the treasures of the final chapter of 1 Peter, show...

In Biblical times, a steward was a faithful and trusted servant who would run his master’s household. The Apostle Peter tells us that we are stewards of God’s grace, entrusted with bringing the good news of the Gospel of grace to our unbelieving neighbor, loving our brothers and sisters and witnessing to God’s faithfulness, even in our suffering. Join Pastor Matt as he leads us through 1 Peter cha...

In a culture that worships at the altar of individual autonomy and self-assertion, is it any wonder we live in an angry, divided and often lonely world?  Into a similar societal chaos the ancient New Testament letter known as 1 Peter called God’s people to exhibit humility, self-sacrifice, kindness and compassion in all of their relationships.  Join Pastor Jim as he unpacks the timeless truth of G...

Have you ever felt like your spiritual life stalled out, as if you hit a plateau or, to use another metaphor, you were just drifting in circles? Well, here at The Village Chapel, we want you to know you are not alone in that experience. Most of us have been there too and so we gather on a regular basis to encourage one another in the Gospel. John Stott once said, “Holiness is not a condition into...

First Peter is a letter suffused with hope: not merely a dream or a wish, but hope grounded in the reality of the bodily resurrection of Jesus. For the Apostle Peter, hope through the risen Savior is multi-dimensional, touching every square inch of creation and every aspect of humanity. Join Pastor Tommy as we consider how Peter offers a panoramic view of the Christian life, pointing us toward the...

The New Testament describes the Resurrection of Jesus Christ as a historical event, asserting that a physically dead Jesus rose again from the grave three days after suffering a horrific death on a Roman cross. In one of the earliest New Testament writings, the apostle Paul stated that there were over 500 eyewitnesses who had seen Jesus alive again, with many of those eyewitnesses still alive at t...

Why has the observance of Palm Sunday lasted these last 2,000 years? Why do so many Bible scholars call it the “Triumphal Entry?” Why did Jesus ride into Jerusalem on a donkey? Why did the crowds shout “Hosanna?” What made them dance and sing “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” from Psalm 118? How might some have understood and/or misunderstood what Jesus was doing on that day? And w...

1 Kings offers a 3000-year-old chronicle that begins with an inevitable but forced royal succession and continues with relentless political disorder and conflict.  We started with the relatively good King David reigning over a united kingdom, and we now conclude 1 Kings with the ignoble death of the wicked King Ahab who ruled over half of a divided kingdom. Unsurprisingly, we learn that we need a...

Why do the righteous suffer while the wicked prosper? In 1 Kings 21, we read of a story that involves a gross misuse of power and authority against an innocent man. Where is God in the midst of all of this? How will He make things right? Join us this week as we begin to unpack the glorious hope we have in Christ who helps the righteous to endure while also making a way for the wicked to be redeeme...

Lots of people have asked questions about why God allows this or that to happen in our world. But have you ever wondered why God was merciful to somebody you thought simply didn’t deserve it? Why does it surprise us to think God might forgive those persons we consider to be repeat offenders or “repugnant others?" And are there ever times we think God simply could not forgive us for something...

1 Kings 19 follows the prophet Elijah after a decisive victory over the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel. Fresh off this climactic spiritual battle, he is confronted with a dire threat to his life. Elijah had likely expected a great revival to sweep the Northern Kingdom of Israel, a turning back to God. Instead, Queen Jezebel had only intensified her opposition to God and the life and ministry of El...