Verve City Church: Weekly Messages

Voices | Heart Conversations

Heart conversations can be hard conversations, but they are necessary to confront the false statements and narratives we tell ourselves. You can not change what you do not confront.  When we are not transparent with our words and our thoughts, they become a hiding place and create disconnection. 

Voices | A Good Surprise

When we're freaking out about something, we often want other people around us to support us by freaking out too. But the presence of calm doesn't mean the absence of care. Jesus was often calm and walked at his own pace, even when those around him were not. Our fears pressure us into wanting more control. But the opposite of fear is love, not control. God loves you, and he has good surprises for you.

The Temptation to Judge | Voices

When we first put our faith in Jesus we are usually hyper aware of our need for him. But as he begins to transform us there can be a tendency to forget where we came from and to begin judging those outside of the church who don't live like us. Sometimes we’re so thankful for who we are that we forget who we were.  Josh Crain kicks off our weekend teaching series, Voices: Practical Ideas for Leading a Jesus-centered Life

Voices | The Temptation to Judge

When we first put our faith in Jesus we are usually hyper aware of our need for him. But as he begins to transform us there can be a tendency to forget where we came from and to begin judging those outside of the church who don't live like us. Sometimes we’re so thankful for who we are that we forget who we were.  Josh Crain kicks off our weekend teaching series, Voices: Practical Ideas for Leading a Jesus-centered Life

Celebrate | Bringin' Home the Bacon

Today, Josh Crain closes out our teaching series called Bringin' Home the Bacon. Sometimes we need to stop and celebrate the things that God is doing in the midst of our community. Because of your generosity we have seen people commit to Jesus, lives transformed, and communities blessed this year. We celebrate today because your giving is changing lives. 

Celebrate | Bringin' Home the Bacon

Today, Josh Crain closes out our teaching series called Bringin' Home the Bacon. Sometimes we need to stop and celebrate the things that God is doing in the midst of our community. Because of your generosity we have seen people commit to Jesus, lives transformed, and communities blessed this year. We celebrate today because your giving is changing lives. 

Property Rights | Bringin' Home the Bacon

Two things are true: it’s your money. And it’s *not* your money. It’s your money, so you should find ways to spend it that delight you and make your world a more enjoyable place. And it’s also all a gift that you steward as it flows to you and it flows away from you. The great wisdom teachers found in the Scriptures are constantly giving us two paradoxical instructions about money: 1) grab hold of it because it’s yours and 2) let go of it because it’s not. Josh Crain

Money Mirror | Bringin' Home the Bacon

If we push past the discomfort of talking about money, we’ll discover a powerful truth: money is always teaching you. Money can act as a mirror, reflecting and exposing the narratives and resentments we have. If we shift our mindset around finances, we’ll discover there’s a wealth of wisdom and understanding to be found.

Is God Good? What about Jesus?

Jesus is usually admired as a good moral teacher even by those who deny his divinity. But is “good moral teacher” a category we can place Jesus in? Did he claim to be God? Is it possible he was crazy? Did his first followers radically alter the message that he preached? Did he actually rise from the dead? The goodness of God and the validity of Christianity hangs on the answers to these questions. 

Is God Good: What about the Church?

The tragedy of the Uvalde shooting this past week, along with the recent shootings in Laguna Woods and Buffalo, are a horrific reminder of the brokenness of our world. Our hurting nation and communities need the message of Jesus more now than ever before... but has the institution of “the evangelical church” lost its influence due to its own leaders’ mess-ups and cover-ups? What will it take for the Church to lead a revival in our communities... and what role do we have as individuals to tru...

Is God Good: What About the Old Testament?

Is God Good: What About the Old Testament

Is God Good: What About Suffering?

Mother's Day 2022

Is God Good: What About Christians?

Is God Good: What About Hell?

Easter 2022 | More Cowbell

Rabbi Jesus: The Miracle Worker

Rabbi Jesus: Waverunner

Rabbi Jesus: Now You See Me

Soul Repair: I'm Feeling Like a Failure

Soul Repair: I'm Depressed

Soul Repair: I'm Disconnected

Soul Repair: I'm Spiritually Dry

Gigantic Jesus: A Shock To The System

Gigantic Jesus: A New Way to Be Human

Gigantic Jesus: The Cosmic Christ

How To Read The Bible: Don't (Just) Read The Bible

How To Read The Bible: Asking The Right Questions

How To Read The Bible: The Bible as Divine Literature

How To Read The Bible: You Are Insanely Biased

How To Read The Bible: The Bible Will Mess You Up

A Christmas Carol: The Hope of Christmas Future

A Christmas Carol: Keeping Christmas in Your Heart

A Christmas Carol: Haunted by the Past

Share Hope: Hotel California

Share Hope: Gotta Serve Somebody

Share Hope: If I Had A Million Dollars

Every commercial we see reinforces the same message: the good life is just a purchase away. We could finally be happy if we had a bigger house, a nicer car, a newer phone, a more luxurious dining room set...the list is endless. Which is kind of the point. Increasingly, sociologists and psychologists are discovering that there’s a real emotional and relational cost to have a mindset of constant accumulation as a pathway to personal fulfillment. Jesus taught the opposite: he said that generos...

Who Needs God: I Do

We all want to be masters of our own destinies. We all want to feel in control of our lives.  The idea of autonomy is attractive. It makes life feel ordered and predictable. But our  desire for autonomy can stand in the way of faith. One of the biggest barriers to belief in  God is that we don’t want to believe because we don’t want to need anyone. But what if  autonomy is an illusion?  Don’t let the illusion of autonomy stand in the way of a relationship with your heavenly  Father. Don’t b...

Who Needs God: In-Justice for All

We all want to rid the world of injustice. But we can only recognize injustice if we know  what justice is to begin with. But maybe the best way to rid the world of injustice is to rid the world of God. We don’t always agree about what is just. So, who gets to define justice if not God? When God is gone, injustice leaves with him because justice leaves with him. If anyone had a reason to stop believing in God because of injustice, it was Jesus. The one who stands at the center of all we bel...

Who Needs God: The God of Jesus

Are you caught between doubt and despair because you’ve been trying to worship the  bodyguard god, on-demand god, boyfriend god, guilt god, anti-science god, gap god, or  angry-Old-Testament god? If big-G God has lost his appeal because you’ve mixed him up  with a gaggle of little-g gods who don’t exist, then how can you know what God is really  like?   If you could see God just once, wouldn’t it settle your fears, give you assurance, and  motivate you to hold firm in your faith? If y...

Who Needs God: The Bible Told Me So

Do you find some of the Bible’s stories about God unsettling? Do you ever wonder how you can trust Jesus if it requires you to believe everything in the Bible is true? Does Christianity seem like a fragile house of cards that may tumble down in the face of scientific or archeological discovery? Before you abandon your faith, it’s worth exploring this question: What if the Bible isn’t the foundation of the Christian faith?  Before the Old and New Testaments were combined and called the Bible...

Who Needs God: Gods of the No Testament

Everyone has religious doubts. Certain things about God are unsettling. Our circumstances can make God seem distant or vengeful. Science can make God seem unnecessary. Those doubts can cause us to abandon faith. But maybe our perspectives are wrong. Maybe the gods we abandon never existed to begin with.

Who Needs God: Atheist 2.0

More Americans than ever are backing away from religion . . . and God. Not because  atheism is attractive, but because religion is unattractive. Religion is seen as the problem.  It’s thought of as a source of conflict and violence. So, it’s worth asking the question: Who  Needs God?

Invite Culture: How People Become Christians

We’re supposed to share the gospel of Jesus. But how do we do that? Is it all up to us individually or do we get graded as a group project? If I really, really want my friends to follow Jesus, is there something I can do to help that along? Great questions. Let’s think through some answers together. 

Invite Culture: Why You Need Jesus

Having looked at partial gospels as being unsatisfying, we turn to secular narratives — beliefs about reality that most cultural institutions hold as truth — and find that they are ultimately unsatisfying as well. What we need isn’t a partial gospel or an unsatisfying cultural narrative. What we need is Jesus and the gospel he proclaimed. And it’s what our friends need as well. 

Invite Culture: Our Gospel is Too Small

When we think about inviting other people to participate in faith, we need to ask: what specifically are we inviting them into? We are surrounded by competing gospels. In week one, we’ll describe five different gospels versions that are often taught in the United States: 1) the evangelical gospel 2) the reformed gospel 3) the social justice gospel 4) the political gospel and 5) the prosperity gospel. The power of each of these is that they all contain some truth. But what if the good news of...

Better Together: The Love of Community

Community can be beautiful, but it’s also messy. How do we bring our whole selves into a group of people? Our strengths, our weaknesses, our doubts, our certainties: these are some of the elements that make up who we are. How do we trust that other people can handle all of that, and how are we able to handle all that others may bring? What does community look like when we disagree? When we see things differently? Is it even possible that these differences can make us better together? 

Better Together: The Challenges of Community

Community can be beautiful, but it’s also messy. How do we bring our whole selves into a group of people? Our strengths, our weaknesses, our doubts, our certainties: these are some of the elements that make up who we are. How do we trust that other people can handle all of that, and how are we able to handle all that others may bring? What does community look like when we disagree? When we see things differently? Is it even possible that these differences can make us better together? 

Better Together: The Sacrifice of Community

Great community and friendships appear to be all win: who doesn’t want a group of people to be known and loved by? But a fuller understanding of community recognizes something more: community requires sacrifice. If we truly are better together, how will we have to reorient our lives, our time, and our ideologies in order to build the community that our souls so desperately need?