The Wisdom of God in the Book of Job

The wisdom of Job is the mystery of suffering in light of the sovereignty of God. God is sovereign over both the trouble and the blessings. If you've ever judged yourself and thought that you were experiencing trouble because you failed, if you've ever given counsel to someone in error like Job's friends did, or if you've received counsel that was errant and that left you dismayed and wondering where to turn, then we hope this lesson from Job's life will help you heal, forgive, and see your circumstances in light of God's sovereignty. 

The Wisdom of Job
Josh Pavel

The Wisdom of God - Intro

Proverbs 9:10 says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Wisdom is more than just knowledge - it is the application of knowledge combined with obedience to God. Wisdom must by sought and cultivated not in the times of crisis and distress but in the day to day of life so that when we encounter the unexpected and difficult times, wisdom is at the ready. But we must start from a place of revering and respecting the Lord, or we will learn the wrong lessons and grow in fear or cynicism instead of wisdom. 

The Wisdom of God
Josh Pavel

The Magi: Seeking The God That Is Seeking Us

What does it mean to be a seeker? It means that you are relentlessly looking for something. The Bible directs us to "seek the Lord while He can be found". The journey of the Magi to find the newborn King gives us an amazing illustration of persisting in our pursuit of Jesus and the surprising ways that He unexpectedly reveals Himself. 

The Magi: Seeking The God That Is Seeking Us
Josh Pavel

Advent Week 1: The Prophets

In the first week of Advent, we celebrate hope, and specifically the hope that we've been given through prophecy and the prophets. Jesus himself fulfilled hundreds of prophecies about the Messiah. John the Baptist is the prophet of Advent who came to prepare the way for the coming of Jesus. As we prepare our hearts for Christmas, we prepare ourselves for the coming of Jesus as the prophets have by embracing a message of hope and being confident in what the Lord has said He will do.

Advent Week 1: The Prophets
Josh Pavel

Malleable: Humility

Continuing in the "Malleable" series, Pastor Josh Pavel teaches on humility and how it is essential to being formed and shaped in the image of Jesus. After digging into scripture to discover the meaning of what it is to be humble and what that looks like, this teaching is wrapped up with a very practical list of things we can begin to do right now to grow in humility.

Malleable: Humility
Josh Pavel

Demystify: Introduction to Spiritual Gifts

*AUDIO NOTE:  We apologize for the blips in the audio in this recording. There was difficulty with the wireless mic that gets resolved around 11 minutes into the track. 
This week Pastor Josh lays the foundation for a new sermon series that will take us into October: Demystify. It's all about making the spiritual gifts more accessible and approachable and less daunting, keeping in line with our Vineyard value of "everyone gets to play". Instead of only a pastor teaching on the theology behind the gifts each Sunday, over the course of this series we will get to hear from a number of different practitioners of these gifts. These individuals with share their perspective and experiences in being used by the Holy Spirit to operate in these gifts on a regular basis.

Demystify: Introduction to Spiritual Gifts
Josh Pavel

Baptism

July 30th was a baptism Sunday at VCHS and pastor Josh took the opportunity to talk about the meaning, purpose and importance of baptism. We baptism because we obey and follow the example of Jesus. The mark of God's people is no longer external as it once was with circumcision. We are now marked internally with a circumcision of the heart that we demonstrate outwardly by baptism. 

Baptism
Josh Pavel

The Mission of God

The mission of God is not to fill seats in a church on Sunday. The mission of God is far bigger, more powerful and more beautiful than that. We are more than dispensers of truth. Disciples of Jesus are called to seek, to save, to heal, to deliver, to store what has been stolen. The Gospel of God IS the mission of God. 

The Mission of God
Josh Pavel