The Gift of God’s Promises, Part 3

On Sunday, July 24, 2022, VLC gathered in person which was also broadcasted online via YouTube. Today Pastor Stuart shared part 3 of a message on God’s Promises. We are encouraged to seek God’s presence in the midst of trials, trust the provision of the Lord’s protection, and embrace God’s enduring blessings all the days of our lives.

Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.
Psalm 23:4-6 (NIV)

The Gift of God’s Promises, Part 2

On Sunday, July 17, 2022, VLC gathered in person which was also broadcasted online via YouTube. Today Pastor Stuart shared a message reminding us of the Lord’s provision as our shepherd, making safe and restorative places for us to find our alignment and walking in the Lord’s ways for us.

The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
Psalms 23:1-3 (NIV)

The Gift of God’s Promises

On Sunday, July 3, 2022, VLC gathered in person which was also broadcasted online via YouTube. Today Pastor Stuart shared a message reminding us of the power and durability of God’s promises. We can take ownership of them and impart these promises into our lives, allowing their impact to not only change us but those closest to us as well.

For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God. Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
2 Corinthians 1:20-22 (NIV)

The Blessing

On Sunday, June 26, 2022, VLC gathered in person which was also broadcasted online via YouTube. Today Gio Serrato shared some thoughts about blessing, especially doing the hard work to ensure that we are able to bless others. We are blessed when we are able to bless others.

Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.
1 Peter 3:8-9 (NIV)

Experiencing a Renewed Pentecost, Part 2

On Sunday, June 12, 2022, VLC gathered in person which was also broadcasted online via YouTube. Today Pastor Stuart continues his message from Pentecost Sunday reminding us about the work of the Holy Spirit, encouraging us to examine our lives for the mistakes we’ve made and lies we’ve believed, and lastly, exhorting us to put our faith in Christ and not in following the rules.

How foolish can you be? After starting your new lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort? Have you experienced so much for nothing? Surely it was not in vain, was it?

I ask you again, does God give you the Holy Spirit and work miracles among you because you obey the law? Of course not! It is because you believe the message you heard about Christ.
Galatians 3:3-5 (NLT)

Experiencing a Renewed Pentecost

On Sunday, June 5, 2022, VLC gathered in person which was also broadcasted online via YouTube. Today Pastor Stuart shared a message for Pentecost Sunday from Acts 1:6-8. He walks us through the passage encouraging us to think about how we approach the Lord with our questions, and then reminding us that when we encounter the Holy Spirit we will be empowered to be Christ’s witnesses in our world. 

Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Acts 1:6-8 (NIV)

The Simplicity of Worship

On Sunday, May 29, 2022, VLC gathered in person which was also broadcasted online via YouTube. Today members of the VLC worship team, Santiago & Beth Barboza and Brook Fonceca, shared some thoughts about worship, its simplicity, how we are created to worship, and how God uses worship as an instrument of growth in our lives.

One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
Mark 12:28-31 (NIV)

Being Ready for the Coming Season

On Sunday, May 22, 2022, VLC gathered in person which was also broadcasted online via YouTube. Today Pastor Stuart shared a message of hope through preparing ourselves to be close to the Lord, to love more deeply and sacrificially, and to be of service to the Lord and God’s people.

The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.
1 Peter 4:7-10 (NIV)

Worship Reset: Returning in Surrender

On Sunday, May 15, 2022, VLC gathered in person which was also broadcasted online via YouTube. Today Pastor Stuart continues our series on the Foundations of Worship. This week’s message focused on the posture of surrender and our need to return to the Lord regularly in worship. Adopting a posture of surrender opens us up to be transformed by God’s presence and empowers us to live according to the Lord’s discerning guidance.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is —his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Romans 12:1-2 (NIV)

Worship Reset: Restoring the Word

On Sunday, May 8, 2022, VLC gathered in person which was also broadcasted online via YouTube. Today Pastor Stuart began a new series on the Foundations of Worship. This week’s message focused on the place God’s word has in our expression of worship. From teaching and admonishing to singing with one another, the word of Christ is our foundation and guide as we seek to walk in wisdom and gratitude.

Pastor Stuart also shared a song called Gratitude. It can be found here. https://youtu.be/mRlLumFvwyA

Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
Colossians 3:16 (NASB)

The Foundations of Worship: Enjoying the Lord

On Sunday, May 1, 2022, VLC gathered in person which was also broadcasted online via YouTube. Today Pastor Stuart began a new series on the Foundations of Worship. This week’s message explored the concept of enjoying the Lord as worship by enjoying God as a person, looking for ways to delight in the Lord, and then expressing that joy as love toward one another.

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Matthew 22:34-40 (NIV)

The Value of a Friend

On Sunday, April 24, 2022, VLC gathered in person which was also broadcasted online via YouTube. Today’s speaker, Gio Serrato, shared a message exploring friendship, its reciprocal nature, and encouraging us to be mindful of whom we hold as friends.

Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their labor:
If either of them falls down,
one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls
and has no one to help them up.
Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
But how can one keep warm alone?
Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 (NIV)

Jesus, at the Tomb, with a Candlestick

On Easter Sunday, April 17, 2022, Pastor Stuart Nice shared a message in person and online via YouTube Live. Pastor Stuart shared an Easter message that looked into the mysteries of the resurrection. This Easter we discovered the strength and grace of Mary Magdalene as she was the first to witness Jesus’ resurrection and her faithfulness to share her experience with the risen Jesus with those who don’t yet believe. We also learn that beauty and new life can arise out of strange and even difficult circumstances.

Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in. She saw two white-robed angels, one sitting at the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying. “Dear woman, why are you crying?” the angels asked her.

“Because they have taken away my Lord,” she replied, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”

She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him. “Dear woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?”

She thought he was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.”

“Mary!” Jesus said.

She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”).

“Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord!” Then she gave them his message.
John 20:11-18 (NLT)

Final Lessons on the Way to the Cross: Secure in a Broken World

On Sunday, April 10, 2022, Pastor Stuart Nice shared a message in person and online via YouTube Live. Pastor Stuart concludes our series on Final Lessons on the Way to the Cross. This week we are reminded that we are secure in the Father’s love, in Christ’s knowing, and in our future since Jesus has overcome the world.

In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.”

His disciples said, “Ah, now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech! Now we know that you know all things and do not need anyone to question you; this is why we believe that you came from God.” Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
John 16:26-33 (ESV)

Final Lessons on the Way to the Cross: The Holy Spirit’s Work in Us

On Sunday, April 3, 2022, Pastor Stuart Nice shared a message in person and online via YouTube Live. Pastor Stuart continues our series on Final Lessons on the Way to the Cross. This week we are reminded that we are empowered to be Christ’s ministers in the world by the giving of the Holy Spirit to the church. We must daily practice relying on the Spirit’s guiding presence.

But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because people do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
John 16:7-11 (NIV)

Final Lessons on the Way to the Cross: Our Relationship with the World

On Sunday, March 27, 2022, Pastor Stuart Nice shared a message in person and online via YouTube Live. Pastor Stuart continues our series on Final Lessons on the Way to the Cross. This week we are encouraged to love one another, remembering that following the ways of Jesus (walking in love) can and will lead to misunderstanding and persecution.

This is my command: Love each other. “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me.
John 15:17-21 (NIV)

Final Lessons on the Way to the Cross: Living in Love

On Sunday, March 20, 2022, Pastor Stuart Nice shared a message in person and online via YouTube Live. Pastor Stuart continues our series on Final Lessons on the Way to the Cross. This week we are reminded of what it means to live in love by becoming a great lover, living in complete joy, and growing through love.

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit —fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.
John 15:9-17 (NIV)

Final Lessons on the Way to the Cross: What It Means and How to Abide in Christ

On Sunday, March 13, 2022, Pastor Stuart Nice shared a message in person and online via YouTube Live. Pastor Stuart continues our series on Final Lessons on the Way to the Cross. This week we are encouraged to abide in Christ from John 15:5-8. Pastor Stuart explores the relationally of abiding in Christ through trust, prayer, bearing fruit, and glorifying God.

I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.
John 15:5-8 (NASB)

Lessons on the Way to the Cross: Enduring Peace

On Sunday, March 6, 2022, Pastor Stuart Nice shared a message in person and online via YouTube Live. Pastor Stuart continues last week’s message on Sabbath rest, focusing on the resulting peace from taking time to be with the Lord and family. This Sunday we are encouraged to examine our relationship to peace. What steals it? What influence does the world’s peace have on us? What steps do we need to take to reestablish Jesus’ peace in our lives?

“All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
John 14:25-27 (NIV)