Sunday Sermons from The Village Chapel

Guest speaker Scotty Smith teaches through Matthew 26:1-29. As the plot to kill Jesus takes shape, He gathers with His disciples and institutes the Lord's Supper – an event we commemorate in the Church to this day. Scotty Smith is Teacher in Residence at West End Community Church in Nashville, TN, and Pastor Emeritus at Christ Community Church in Franklin, TN. Support the show To find more re...

Most people would claim they want to see justice done. But what is this thing we call “justice” and what does it require? Will there ever be a time when justice is realized? In Matthew 25 where Jesus talked about the end of time, His return to judge the world, and His plan to separate the sheep from the goats, just what did He mean by all of that? Join Pastor Jim as he walks us through this passag...

In Matthew 25:1-30 Jesus employs the use of two parables as He continues to teach His disciples about faithfulness in His Kingdom. These two parables have been likened to searchlights all focusing on one central theme: the Lord will come again when we least expect, and faithful followers of Jesus will show the fruit of genuine faith as they await His return.   Appearances can be deceiving. The out...

Matthew 24 offers us a record of what Bible scholars have come to call the “Mount Olivet Discourse." This is the second-longest teaching segment of Jesus we find recorded in Matthew’s gospel. Here we read of the disciples gawking at the magnificent structure of the Jewish Temple and Jesus responding with what had to seem like a strange prediction: He said “not one stone here shall be left upo...

As we come to study Matthew 23, the context is the Passover week in first century Jerusalem. The hillsides, roads and Temple precincts are jammed with pilgrims who have come to present their sacrifices, and there is mounting tension in the air between the religious leaders of that time and the carpenter turned rabbi and healer, Jesus of Nazareth. We find ourselves drawn in, wondering what will ult...

During Holy Week, Jesus engages with the Pharisees, Sadducees and Herodians as they all seek to trap Him politically, theologically and legally. Jesus’ answers to their questions leave them marveling and the crowds astonished as He deals with a variety of issues: what does citizenship and allegiance look like? What will heaven be like? How does God want us to live in the here and now? And lastly J...

Jesus often taught in parables to help His listeners understand more about who He was and is, what He was up to while He walked the planet, and what it means to join Him in the kingdom of heaven. How should we understand the Gospel and the Kingdom of Heaven in our own day and time? Sometimes it helps to begin with what it is not. The Gospel of Jesus is not a demand for us to do something; it is a...

Both the words and works of Jesus displayed a unique authority which attracted thousands of followers to Him, but at the same time, created a great amount of tension between Jesus and the religious establishment of that time. How do we respond to the idea of Jesus’ divine authority in our own day and time, especially when it comes to understanding who we are in Christ, our role as members of God’s...

Matthew 21 is a transition point in the life of Jesus from His public ministry toward His mission to the cross and resurrection. The text tells us that Jerusalem was “stirred up” as Jesus entered the city during Passover. He came on a donkey, not a warhorse. The King had arrived, although not in the way we might have expected. When Jesus entered the temple, He drove out the corrupt and welcomed in...

In the opening lines from The Gospel of John, we have one of the most amazing summary statements about Jesus, His personhood, His nature, His role in redemption history and what all this means for us. What would it look like to begin every day fully embracing the fact that Jesus is the Word, the Life and the Light of God in our lives? We turn to one of Jesus’ closest friends and followers for answ...

After the extraordinary events surrounding the birth of Jesus, we are introduced to Simeon and Anna, two faithful people who had been waiting for many years, expecting to see the promised messiah.  Join us as Pastor Tommy helps us consider this remarkable account of Simeon and Anna witnessing with their own eyes the promise fulfilled. Support the show To find more resources like these, follow us:...

The third canticle of Advent we find in Luke’s gospel is the song the angels sang to the shepherds. Like the other songs of Advent, it erupts with themes of God’s glory, God’s goodness, and delight in God’s grace shown towards humanity. What was the meaning of this exuberant angelic song? Why was it sung to simple shepherds? What difference does it make in redemption history? Join Pastor Jim as he...

The second canticle of Advent that we find in Luke’s gospel is the song of Zachariah (often called the Benedictus). It explodes with themes of God’s greatness, God’s goodness and an expression of true delight in God’s grace. As with the other three songs, this one has a context. Here was an elderly Jewish couple whose marriage had been overshadowed by decades of disappointment. However, we are tol...

The angel Gabriel is sent by God to a small Galillean village called Nazareth, and visits a young peasant girl named Mary, betrothed to a man named Joseph. Gabriel tells Mary that even though she is a virgin, through the power of the Holy Spirit, she will bear a child whose name will be Jesus, who will be called the Son of the Most High. Mary responds to this startling and miraculous news with obe...

Thanksgiving is upon us and the Advent/Christmas season lies just around the corner. Many of us will gather with family or loved ones, sing carols, light candles, and be reminded over and over again of the mystery of God becoming one of us. Why did Christ come and what real impact can believing this have on us? How does it offer hope for the broken-hearted, the disappointed, or for those strugglin...

Matthew 20 opens up with Jesus scrambling all the usual ideas of fairness and equity. How do things in God’s economy work? What about commonly embraced principles of fair play and getting what we deserve? How is the Christian gospel starkly different in essence from the concepts of moral merit and/or karma? The last half of the chapter describes two requests made of Jesus: the first from a proud m...

Jesus has left Galilee for the last time, and is headed towards Jerusalem and the cross. He has three encounters in this chapter: with Pharisees who want to trip Him up regarding divorce, with parents who bring their children to Jesus for blessing, and with a rich young man who wants to know what one thing he must do in order to get into heaven. How does Jesus respond in each of these encounters?...

C.S. Lewis once said, "Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea until they have something to forgive." Because we are all sinners, we all need to receive forgiveness and we will all need to show forgiveness to someone else at some point in life. Why are both of these so hard for us? How does believing the Gospel help us with this? No other person in human history is more connected to t...

In the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 18, the disciples ask Jesus a bold question: "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" Though they have recognized Jesus as King, the Son of God and messiah, earthly values like position, prestige and power lingered in discussions about their own positions in the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus answers the question in a most surprising way. Join Pastor To...

As Jesus, Peter, James and John descend from the glorious experience on the Mount of Transfiguration they are immediately confronted with chaos, conflict, frustration and failure. Here in Matthew 17 we read the account of a father in anguish over the dark and destructive forces at work in his only son’s life. Where could he find help for his child? Could he get his son to Jesus and if so, would Je...

Matthew, Mark and Luke all record an event commonly referred to as “The Transfiguration.” What is meant by the term 'Transfiguration?' What does this event teach us about Jesus? And what difference can learning more about this event make for those of us who follow Jesus now? Join Pastor Jim as he helps us catch the mind-blowing glimpse of glory and rich depth of meaning we find in the Tr...

Following some of His most notable miracles, Jesus begins to tell His disciples the kind of messiah He is going to be. Once they start to understand the kind of savior Jesus is, they begin to realize what it will mean to truly follow Him. Join our Director of Youth Ministry, Ryan Motta, today as he dives into the richness and implications of Matthew 16 and discusses what it truly means to follow J...

Foreshadowing what the kingdom of heaven will look like when it comes in its fullness, Jesus broke through national, racial, religious and social barriers. Through His miracles, Jesus gave us a preview of what He intends to do when He returns again to set the world to rights. Join Pastor Jim as he unfolds the beautiful tapestry of Matthew 15 that offers us a foretaste of the future in the kingdom...

Midway through Matthew’s Gospel, Pharisees and scribes travel from Jerusalem to confront Jesus about the way His disciples break with their traditions. Jesus turns the tables on them and reveals how they have broken God’s commandments for the sake of their traditions, and then He teaches the crowds and the disciples that it is the condition of the heart, not the washing of hands that God is most c...

One of the most well known miracles of Jesus took place on a stormy night when He walked out on the water to be with His disciples. What really happened that night and what was the point of it all? Did Jesus actually walk on water? How did Jesus respond to Peter’s desire to walk out on the water with Him? Why did Peter begin to sink after just a few steps? Join Pastor Jim as he helps us see what t...