Verve City Church: Weekly Messages

Week 4 The Gospels are full of stories where Jesus heals people: the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed. These miraculous healings continue in the book of Acts and throughout the ministries of the Apostles. Are these stories credible? And if so, does God still heal today? Series Overview Dragons, sea monsters, fairies, gods, and… Jesus. How can our modern sensibilities reconcile myt...

Week 3 The New Testament speaks of spiritual gifts that God has given to his Church: evangelism, teaching, serving, leadership, wisdom, administration, healing, and many more. How are these spiritual gifts different from our natural talents? What is the expectation of individuals and churches to use these gifts? And what are some of the dangers and potential pitfalls of using your spiritual gifts...

Week 2 Christians believe in one God who exists in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But what does that mean? And how are we to understand the Holy Spirit? Who is he, and what does he do? And what does it mean to be "filled with" the Spirit? Series Overview Dragons, sea monsters, fairies, gods, and… Jesus. How can our modern sensibilities reconcile myths and mystery, fantasy a...

Week 1 Not long ago, much of the world believed in dragons, sea monsters, fairies, and gods. The earth was filled with mystery: dark forests, endless oceans, unexplored lands. Today, these notions feel foreign to our modern sensibilities and endearing in their naivety. We have explored the globe, we have unlocked the human genome, and we have launched into outer space. So what are we to do with th...

This is part 1 of 2 of a discussion of the message from Sunday, September 17: The Dark Knight. For copyright reasons, we cannot livestream or publish these services, so through September we’ll share discussions like this about the movies and messages. Perhaps the most thought-provoking superhero film ever made, The Dark Knight was released in the aftermath of September 11 and the global war on ter...

This is part 2 of 2 of a discussion of the message from Sunday, September 17: The Dark Knight. For copyright reasons, we cannot livestream or publish these services, so through September we’ll share discussions like this about the movies and messages. Perhaps the most thought-provoking superhero film ever made, The Dark Knight was released in the aftermath of September 11 and the global war on ter...

This is a discussion of the message from Sunday, September 10: Ferris Bueller's Day Off . For copyright reasons, we cannot livestream or publish these services, so through October we’ll share discussions like this about the movies and messages. Weirdly enough, Ferris Bueller's Day Off mostly isn't about Ferris Bueller, but about his friend Cameron. Cameron has been swimming in so mu...

This is a discussion of the message from Sunday, September 3, which highlighted Ford v Ferrari as part of the At the Movies series. For copyright reasons, we cannot livestream or publish these services, so through October we’ll share  discussions like this about the movies and messages. At its core, Ford v Ferrari is the story of how friendship can help us learn the value of acting while thinking...

This is a discussion of the message from Sunday, August 27, which highlighted Cars (2006) as part of the At the Movies series. For copyright reasons, we cannot livestream or publish these services, so through October we’ll share  discussions like this about the movies and messages. Released in 2006, Pixar’s Cars gives us insight into our egos: how they can be puffed up, painful, busy, and fragile....

This week: At some point in your life, you likely encountered the Bible. You took a literature class in college and were assigned a few chapters to study. Or you grew up going to church and often heard passages read from its pages. Or a parent or relative gave you a copy of the Bible as a gift. Or you saw a shirtless man at a football game who had emblazoned his chest and belly with "John 3:1...

This week: The Bible is a library of books. But how did we get it? Who wrote these things down? How was it assembled? And what does any of that have to do with the way we live and practice our faith? Series overview: Though the Bible is perhaps the most influential religious text in human history, even Christians often know very little of its origins. How did we get the Bible as we know it today?...

This week: Maybe you were taught every verse in the Bible has one clear meaning. Or maybe you were taught nothing in the Bible is literal and every story finds its meaning in allegory. No matter what, to engage with the Bible at all is to interpret the Bible, and for the past two thousand years, people have had diverse views on Biblical interpretation.  Series overview: Though the Bible is perhaps...

This week: Jesus called us to “bear much fruit,” but in the face of our modern, fast-paced, complicated lives, how do we live that out? It turns out the secret to cultivating more good fruit in our lives is simple and sweet. Series overview: Any of us who have walked through a difficult season know that “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade” is easier said than done! As Jesus followers, how c...

This week: Most people seem wired to resist change, and yet from ancient times, people have grappled with the irony that “change is the only constant in life.” Why is that? When God doesn't change our circumstances in the way we might want, how can Jesus' example help us see our lemons as an opportunity to embrace the new thing God’s trying to do or show us?  Series overview: Any of us w...

This week: When life gives us lemons, is "making lemonade" really the best solution? How can faith help us respond in a better way? The Bible is filled with amazing examples of how God loves being extra – more loving, more powerful, more merciful than we could possibly imagine. Here are five helpful tips for how you can respond when you face unexpected or unwanted circumstances in life....

This week: Mindset matters. When circumstances aren’t in our favor, we can still control our outlook and take responsibility for our actions/reactions. Do we grumble about the conditions we face, or do we see obstacles as an opportunity to grow in our faith or our relationship with God? Guest speaker David Crain considers the Bible story of three men who defied expectations and took a courageous s...

This week: A few weeks ago (June 18) we spent time talking about the idea of blessing: we will typically bless people to the extent that we feel blessed in our inner being. In this online-only message, Josh further explores the story of Jacob, discusses the four reasons we often don’t feel blessed, and reminds us that God is often present where we least expect to find Him. Series overview: Since 1...

This week: Jesus said in Mark 10 that anyone who gives up a house or their family for his sake would receive 100 times more houses and family members. And not in some distant future: he said we would receive that now . The key to discerning what Jesus intended by this saying seems to be understanding the kind of community he was inviting us into.  Series overview: Since 1938, Harvard Medical Schoo...

This week: You were young and impressionable and still figuring your life out. And someone said an unkind thing to you. And it was years ago, and it was really no big deal, and you’ve totally moved on. Except that you kind of haven’t. Because all these years later: you still remember the thing they said. We have the power to curse people in ways they will remember forever. How do we choose instead...

This week: The average person will spend 90,000 hours at work over the course of their life time. That’s 90,000 hours of labor, projects, meetings, TPS reports, KPI reports, strategy sessions, and hard conversations. So how does a follower of Jesus think about their relationships at work and their relationship to work? If we’re not thoughtful, our relationship to work can overcrowd our lives and l...

This week: Great Britain recently appointed a “Loneliness Minister.” The U.S. Surgeon General released a warning in May of 2023 that loneliness poses risks as deadly as smoking. It feels like we’re more connected and more isolated than we’ve ever been before. Thankfully, it doesn’t have to be that way. Series overview: Since 1938, Harvard Medical School has been conducting a long-term study of 724...

This week: Where and how you start the story determine the kind of story you are telling. But they don’t determine how that story will conclude. What did Jesus say about the end of our lives and the end of the world? Where is all of this leading and how do we determine our purpose in the midst of it? Series overview: One of the most unchallenged beliefs in Western culture is that life is about fin...

This week: Why does the Christian church exist? What is its purpose? Why belong to one? Wouldn’t it be easier and less mess to simply invest in a more individualistic faith? It turns out that Jesus had a bold, beautiful plan for the church that we’re invited to execute. Series Overview: One of the most unchallenged beliefs in Western culture is that life is about finding happiness. There is an anc...

The Bible is not a guide to parenting. While it contains principles for raising children, it never attempts to give step-by-step instructions for how we should pour into the next generation. There is, however, much to be learned about parenting from the examples of Jesus and countless other Christian leaders who have spent their lives raising up future generations.