Valleyview Friends Church

Life is hard, it can be painful.  The sin we deal with can feel like a mountain weighing down on us.  The disappointments we face can be heart breaking, but Isaiah says, “Comfort, comfort my people.”

If we want to be filled with joy, and experience the best that God has for us, we too need to prepare the path of our hearts.

Whatever circumstances you find yourself in, when life seems to unravel you can find unshakable hope in Jesus.

Who do you say Jesus is? Your answer means the difference between frustration with life and hope filled eternal life.

Today we have a startling Bible text, we could let some of its words shake us, but instead I want you to be encouraged, yes there is a startling warning about what happens to those who falter in their faith, but there is also encouragement for us who push through the challenges we encounter. The hands of God both caution and encourage us to live and finish the Christian life well.

Today we have two simple stories, one about an over confident scribe and the other about an all most unnoticed widow. Jesus warns us, be careful how you seek significance and assign significance; if we are not careful we can chase a sense of success and worth that feels very potent and immediate but is ultimately hollow, but there is a way that is available to every one of us no matter how unsure...

Today I want to take a few minutes to look at Jesus’ answer to the question; “Which commandment is the greatest. He is being asked about his priorities in following God’s law. In answer, Jesus declares we are to love God and love our neighbor and this declaration demands our honesty about our priorities. Our priorities reveal whether or not we live in God’s kingdom.

God is in the heart restoration business, he desires to give you a new spiritually healthy heart, he does this first through Jesus and then continues to breath life into our hearts through the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit.

A well guarded heart leads to resilient, healthy, meaningful ,God-shaped living.

God wants us to see who we really are and to do this we must be honest about the connection between our tongue and our heart. The tongue reveals the heart and what we find in the heart is a need for the grace of Jesus.

God both warns us and encourages us in how we use words, we need to respect there power, use them to guide others well and be every wary of the destructive power of our words.

James is calling you and me away from insignificance, ineffectiveness and lifelessness into vibrant life that comes through the transformational power of God. James warns us to avoid stagnation which comes from deception and into true life that results from encountering God through his word through listening and doing.

Every Christian is called by God to embody humility. In humbleness we find access to eternal life and through humbleness we can bring our loved ones to the threshold of redemption.

You and I cannot encounter the righteousness of God as long as we are trying to produce righteousness on our own, so beware.

Trials are often anything but joyful, but the Christian is called to approach trials with joy, letting the power of Christ redeem trials by bringing forth steadfastness and maturity inthe believers’ life. In short, the Christian responds to trials with joy over the eternal reward wrought when faith endures through hardship.

Blessed are those invited to the marriage banquet of the Lamb, for God reigns and saves; so we respond with readiness, and anticipation in our worship. Today, no matter what you are facing, you can be strengthened by the anticipation of heaven and the reigning power of God.

God’s great banquet is a wonderful celebration. At that banquet the Son will be honored, every guest is unworthy to sit at the table. That unworthiness might make us uncomfortable but the wonder of this truth is that every guest is at the table at the King’s pleasure. That is mercy.

God wants his banquet table to be full. He has space for everyone, if you feel like there is not a place for you at God’s banquet table, there is, but there is also a warning, do not take for granted your invitation to God’s table.

God has great and wonderful promises for his people, he has promised to restore us from sin into salvation, from struggle into lavishness, from shame into glory, from death’s prisoner to death defeated.

Today we have a very direct story with fierce rewards and consequences. Be ready or you will be shut out. The question I have for you today is a simple one, are you ready for the return of Jesus? Its not hard to be ready. First Jesus needs to be received as your Lord and savior and then you need to follow him as his disciple.

Luke 10 deals with keeping cultural obligations. A story of two sisters, one who sits at Jesus’ feet, Mary, and the other sister who is busy trying to get everything just right for such an important visitor as Jesus. Her name is Martha. In her efforts to do what is expected of her, she has become miserable. She even gets angry at her esteemed guest, Jesus. She has become a prisoner to obligations...

True relief, true life and true wholeness are found in Jesus alone and given from Jesus alone. What kind of relief? Relief as refreshing as ice cold water on a hot day. Relief as uplifting as laughter with a friend. Relief as unburdening as when someone joins you turning a task that seemed impossible into a new accomplishment that you can be proud of. We can find that sort of relief in Jesus. Will...

Jesus cares about you, you specifically and you are worth the effort and battle to Jesus. Jesus desires to renew you setting you free from whatever possesses you and filling you with real life.

The Christian is called to influence those around them by living for Christ instead of for themselves, by embracing their identities as new creations and letting go of the old and by being an ambassador for God instead a judge in God’s place.

A few weeks ago we began talking about the spiritual discipline of solitude. This week I want to share one of my favorite bible stories and it involves solitude. In this story God uses solitude to reset, reorient and redeem the heart and mission of the prophet Elijah.