Journey RVA Podcast

All of us have received in-depth training in relationships. We constantly learn from our families, friends, and even strangers. Perhaps the most pervasive training we've received is from our culture: movies, magazines, YouTube, Netflix, books, reality TV, and advertisements. This week's message identified our culture's popular recipe and contrasted it with God's recipe for lasting relationships. The good news is that you have a choice in establishing lasting, healthy relationships.

You've accomplished a lot and had a lot of wonderful experiences. Why, then, does life sometimes seem so difficult and frustrating, even unsatisfying? Could the reason be that the "more" we are chasing doesn't fully satisfy is because we're striving in the wrong direction?

It may be the first truth we learned about Christianity—so simple it's the theme of Sunday school songs. But really grasping this truth can transform your life. Understanding that God wants to give you immeasurably more starts right here. Immeasurably more is possible for you, but not until something happens in you.

When we're kids, we dream big. Life's possibilities seem limitless. As we grow older, setbacks and disappointments in our careers, marriages, and family life can wear us down and cause us to pursue contentment in all the wrong places. In this series, we'll explore a passage in Ephesians that tells us how God's plans for our lives are immeasurably greater than we can imagine. We only need to trust him.

An angel announced "peace on earth" at the birth of Jesus, and yet the season of Christmas can be anything but peaceful. So what was the "peace" that the Angel proclaimed? In what ways can we experience the peace that was promised?

During the Christmas season, some people find it easy to be happy while others struggle with loneliness and sorrow. Yet some who are in the midst of suffering still find joy. How is that possible? What if there was a way to find joy regardless of your situation? There is, and it's found in God's favor and grace.

Christmas may be the most loved and most dreaded season all at the same time. People look forward to seeing some family and friends, but dread seeing others. Each of us probably has someone we have bitterness towards, but part of God's desire for us this Christmas involves trading in bitterness for something far better.

The Bible did not create Christianity. Christianity is the result of an event (the resurrection) that created a movement (the church) that produced sacred and reliable texts that were collected and bound into a book (the Bible). But how do we approach not being at peace with everything we read in the Bible? Paul—the apostle, Pharisee, author, preacher, and church planter—offers us clarity and confidence to move forward.

The Old Testament chronicles God's redemptive, sequential activity in history. It's a fabulous, gritty, epic history of the Hebrew people in which, over and over, Israel is reminded that they are a divine means to an end. So, maybe instead of seeing the Old Testament as a spiritual guidebook or a storyline that needs to be tidied up, we should see it as something even better: the history of God preparing the world for a Savior.