Verve City Church: Weekly Messages

This Week:While the word has lost most of its weight and is often said with a wink and a smile, “sin” points to a deeper darkness that we are all familiar with if we’re honest: our human propensity to make a mess of things and our inclination to make good things into ultimate things.  View the discussion guide and recommended resources.Series Overview:One of the most unchallenged beliefs in Western culture is that life is about finding happiness. There is an ancient alternative to living for happiness, however: to live for meaning. To “live for meaning” means not that you try to get something out of life but rather that life expects something out of you.Is it possible that there is something about the way of Jesus that holds a fundamental key to unlocking our own sense of purpose in the world?This series revolves around two fundamental questions: (1) What is Christianity? (2) How does Christianity teach us to live with meaning, purpose, and joy?

This week:Where and how you start the story determines the kind of story you are telling. So what kind of story are you living? Why are you here and what is your purpose? The origin story of the universe that Jesus believed is so different from our common understanding that it almost seems divine.Series Overview:One of the most unchallenged beliefs in Western culture is that life is about finding happiness. There is an ancient alternative to living for happiness, however: to live for meaning. To “live for meaning” means not that you try to get something out of life but rather that life expects something out of you.Is it possible that there is something about the way of Jesus that holds a fundamental key to unlocking our own sense of purpose in the world?This series revolves around two fundamental questions: (1) What is Christianity? (2) How does Christianity teach us to live with meaning, purpose, and joy?

You probably know that Christians believe Jesus rose from the dead. Yet that’s not the way the world works: dead things stay dead. But what if death doesn’t have the final word? What if that reality could change the way we live?

This week:Anxiety lies to us. It's a schoolyard bully taking advantage of our vulnerabilities. It can feel like an unstoppable force. But in the greatest sermon ever, Jesus taught us to confront the lies of anxiety with the truth of God's goodness.Series overview:You can’t understand how good Michael Jordan was if you’ve never watched a video of him playing. You can’t comprehend the commanding stage presence of Taylor Swift if you’ve never sat in the crowd. You can’t appreciate the world-shaking message of Jesus if you’ve never studied his most audacious sermon.Once upon a time, a Jewish rabbi stood on the side of a mountain, projected his voice to a multitude of people gathered beneath him, and delivered a sermon that changed the course of human history. In one brief sermon, Jesus taught about subjects as wide-ranging as prayer, justice, care for the needy, handling the religious law, fasting, judging other people, salvation, and much more. If we believe Jesus was inviting people into the best life possible, it’s worth studying the way he described how that life should look.

This week:Christians all over the world are taught that prayer is important. Even people who don’t consider themselves to be affiliated with a particular religious tradition sometimes find themselves praying in the midst of heartache. Does prayer “work?” And if it does, what does it accomplish? And if it accomplishes anything, how do we actually pray?Series overview:You can’t understand how good Michael Jordan was if you’ve never watched a video of him playing. You can’t comprehend the commanding stage presence of Taylor Swift if you’ve never sat in the crowd. You can’t appreciate the world-shaking message of Jesus if you’ve never studied his most audacious sermon.Once upon a time, a Jewish rabbi stood on the side of a mountain, projected his voice to a multitude of people gathered beneath him, and delivered a sermon that changed the course of human history. In one brief sermon, Jesus taught about subjects as wide-ranging as prayer, justice, care for the needy, handling the religious law, fasting, judging other people, salvation, and much more. If we believe Jesus was inviting people into the best life possible, it’s worth studying the way he described how that life should look.

Our church has always existed to help people find life by following Jesus, and that remains our mission today. We believe God goes where God is wanted, and we deeply and prayerfully desire to be a vibrant, passionate faith community in which more people will find their lives transformed by Jesus in the years ahead. In this special message, Lead Pastor Josh Crain shares vision for the next five years, along with a couple of exiting changes on the horizon.

This week:Making snap judgments is human nature, right? Judgments keep us safe and help us organize our world into all sorts of helpful categories... But what's the difference between judging critically and judging harshly? How can we avoid letting our moral standards become a trap of hypocrisy? Jesus modeled how we can find fulfillment by living with humility and gentleness.Series overview:You can’t understand how good Michael Jordan was if you’ve never watched a video of him playing. You can’t comprehend the commanding stage presence of Taylor Swift if you’ve never sat in the crowd. You can’t appreciate the world-shaking message of Jesus if you’ve never studied his most audacious sermon.Once upon a time, a Jewish rabbi stood on the side of a mountain, projected his voice to a multitude of people gathered beneath him, and delivered a sermon that changed the course of human history. In one brief sermon, Jesus taught about subjects as wide-ranging as prayer, justice, care for the needy, handling the religious law, fasting, judging other people, salvation, and much more. If we believe Jesus was inviting people into the best life possible, it’s worth studying the way he described how that life should look.

This week:When someone hurts us, our impulse is to get them back. We want to get even because even feels fair. But it doesn’t end up feeling good. In fact, it doesn’t end at all. We get sucked into a never-ending cycle of retaliation. Jesus did His best to give grace to those who treated Him the worst. What made Him think this counter-intuitive strategy would make a difference? And why did He insist His followers do the same?Series overview:It’s impossible to understand how good Michael Jordan was if you’ve never watched a video of him playing. You can’t comprehend the commanding stage presence of Taylor Swift if you’ve never sat in the crowd. You can’t appreciate the world-shaking message of Jesus if you’ve never studied his most audacious sermon. In one brief message, projected to a great multitude of people gathered on a mountain side Jesus taught about subjects as wide-ranging as prayer, justice, care for the needy, judging other people, salvation, and much more. His words that day were so surprising and so powerful, they altered the trajectory of human history. If we believe Jesus was inviting people into the best life possible, it’s worth an in-depth look into the life he invited us to live.

This week:In the beatitudes, Jesus taught that the people who are often at the bottom of society are actually blessed beyond their wildest imaginations. The world has struggled to believe him ever since. How might grasping the beginning theme of his sermon on the mount change the way we see God, ourselves, and the world around us?Series overview:You can’t understand how good Michael Jordan was if you’ve never watched a video of him playing. You can’t comprehend the commanding stage presence of Taylor Swift if you’ve never sat in the crowd. You can’t appreciate the world-shaking message of Jesus if you’ve never studied his most audacious sermon.Once upon a time, a Jewish rabbi stood on the side of a mountain, projected his voice to a multitude of people gathered beneath him, and delivered a sermon that changed the course of human history. In one brief sermon, Jesus taught about subjects as wide-ranging as prayer, justice, care for the needy, handling the religious law, fasting, judging other people, salvation, and much more. If we believe Jesus was inviting people into the best life possible, it’s worth studying the way he described how that life should look.

This week:Genius violates the status quo; it challenges deeply held beliefs and values. Genius is original; it sees the world from a perspective that didn’t exist before. Genius is transformative; it leaves its mark and divides the world into “before” and “after.” Genius is transformative, but it’s not typically transferable. Jesus was a genius. But perhaps the defining, world-shaking characteristic of his genius is that it’s contagious.Series overview:You can’t understand how good Michael Jordan was if you’ve never watched a video of him playing. You can’t comprehend the commanding stage presence of Taylor Swift if you’ve never sat in the crowd. You can’t appreciate the world-shaking message of Jesus if you’ve never studied his most audacious sermon.Once upon a time, a Jewish rabbi stood on the side of a mountain, projected his voice to a multitude of people gathered beneath him, and delivered a sermon that changed the course of human history. In one brief sermon, Jesus taught about subjects as wide-ranging as prayer, justice, care for the needy, handling the religious law, fasting, judging other people, salvation, and much more. If we believe Jesus was inviting people into the best life possible, it’s worth studying the way he described how that life should look.