Pastor JD VanValin: Sermons

Pentecost Sunday

Text: Acts 2:1-12

Pentecost marks the day when God first poured out his Spirit on the believers who were from various regions and spoke various languages. Those observing the amazing event asked a good and reasonable question, "What does this mean?" Today, God is still pouring out the Holy Spirit on all who receive Christ as Lord, and what it meant for them is still what it means for us, right now.

Sixth Sunday of Easter

Text: John 15:9-17

Christ's command for us to love one another is a new command (John 13) from an old command to love God and neighbor. Jesus has created a new community, his Church, through his incarnation, death, and resurrection. This new community is invited into the love that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit share together in order for our joy to be complete. 

Fifth Sunday of Easter

Text: John 15:1-8

The fruit of abiding in Christ is consistent with the person of Jesus. Grapevines bear grapes, the Jesus vine (the True vine) bears fruit that is consistent with who Jesus is and his mission in the world. We see this in Acts as well as in the lives of people.

Fourth Sunday of Easter

Text: Acts 4:5-12

Peter healed a crippled man in the name of Jesus, and he told the religious leaders that it was done in the name of Jesus, who is risen from the dead. What does "in the name of Jesus" mean? Is it merely words that we say? Jesus wants us to know about the power and glory of his name and how we are connected so that we can participate in his redemptive work in the world.

Third Sunday of Easter

Text: Luke 24:36-48

When Jesus appeared the disciples feared and doubted, yet were filled with joy and amazement. The resurrection of the body is unlike anything w have ever experienced. Jesus showed us what we will become if we believe in and follow him. Despite there being myths of resurrected gods, Jesus is the only one that actually has historical credibility and present-day power. He reveals himself to us and calms our fears.

Second Sunday of Easter

Text: John 20:19-23

Jesus sends his disciples by breathing on (in) them the Holy Spirit. How was Jesus sent? Do you want to be like Jesus? The Gospel of John focuses on the "sentness" of Jesus, and we too get to participate in being sent. We cannot do his work on our own, we need God himself in us.

Resurrection Sunday

Text: John 20:1-18

Jesus rose from the dead, and so shall we too be raised from the dead! We were dead/asleep because of sin, but because of Jesus we are alive/awake. He has called us by name to awake from our slumber, and he will call us by name to arise from the dead. May we respond to the Lord's call.

Palm/Passion Sunday

Text: Mark 14:32-42

Instead of intimacy with the Father in Gethsemene, Jesus tasted the cup of God's wrath, knowing that he would have to drink the full cup at the cross. His was in despair, and not even his closest companions, his disciples, could stay awake. We all have fallen asleep, even Abram (Gen. 15:12), but even though we fail to stay awake, God is the one who is always awake and keeps his covenant. Jesus fulfilled the covenant by obeying the Father, and in doing so, he cut a new covenant with his own blood so that we could wake up and rise from the dead.

Fifth Sunday of Lent

Text: John 12:20-33, Hebrews 5:5-10

When the Greeks came to see Jesus, Jesus declared that the "hour has come." If we zoom out and look at the full context of scripture, since before the creation of the world, God had decided to give his Son for the world.  The whole world had gone after Jesus because

Fourth Sunday of Lent

Text: Numbers 21:4-9

Jesus was lifted up just as Moses lifted up the snake on the pole. He is the one who forgives us of our sin and heals us of unrighteousness by becoming sin for us.