Gvf // Grace Valley Fellowship

How is God forming you? How is your life being shaped & reworked by the grace of God? This week, the Apostle Paul gives us a picture to better understand the way in which God works His grace into our lives. God is like a craftsman, a poet, a sculptor, a potter. And we are God's workmanship. www.gvf.church

Only when you know the depth of a valley can you fully appreciate the height of a mountain. This week, as we continue our Ephesians series and focus on Ephesians 2:1-10, we will see apostle Paul remind first century Christians, and Christians of all times, of the depths of the dark valley out of which God saved, us by his grace, and the heights of the glorious spiritual position to which he has brought us.In response, we will celebrate that grace in worship and communion.Read ahead in Ephesians 2:1–10. www.gvf.church

"People lose their WAY when they lose their WHY!" (Michael Hyatt). God, through the apostle Paul, has no problem telling 1st Century (and 21st Century) Christians how to live. But before he does that, apostle Paul continues to lay his foundation for Christians of why God is different than they think, and Christians are different than they feel. Once their eyes are wide open to the truth about God and themselves, living differently makes all the sense in the world. Read ahead from Ephesians 1:15–23, bring your Bible and join us this Sunday as we explore the hope, the riches and the power of God offered IN CHRIST. www.gvf.church

The Apostle Paul and psychotherapists seem to agree on at least one thing: how you think shapes your whole life. Your patterns of automatic and habitual thoughts shape your life more than you can imagine. In Ephesians 1:3-14, Paul invites us to let God reshape our minds by receiving seven good words from Him the way soil receives seeds from a farmer.www.gvf.church

Does my life have meaning? Is history headed somewhere or are things just careening off a cliff of chaos? Where is God at work in this world? In Ephesians 1:3-6, the Apostle Paul offers us three words from God that will challenge, confound, and comfort. He scatters words from God the way a farmer scatters seeds, praying that they might take root in our lives. This Sunday, he tosses out the first three seeds of faith: You're blessed. You're chosen. You're predestined for adoption. www.gvf.church

Is the Bible sexist? Does it treat women as second class? This Sunday, author and pastor, Dr. Sam Andreades, explores questions about the Bible and gender through the story of Hannah in the Book of 1 Samuel. Dr. Andreades is the author of a book entitled, "enGendered," & has very much done his homework on how to thoughtfully love people, listen to God's Word, and speak into this messy, deeply personal topic of gender.Guest speaker, Sam Andreades.www.gvf.church

If you could sit in on your own funeral and listen as people talk about you, what do you think would be said? What will be spoken over you as you lie there lifeless, unable to respond or change how others think of you? In Ephesians 1, the Apostle Paul invites us to sit in & listen to as God reads His eulogy over all who are "in Christ."

What scales do you use to measure your life? Is your life good... or bad? How do you even know? In this message we'll explore the many broken ways in which we seek to make our lives weighty, substantial, worthwhile... Then, we'll see how the Apostle Paul cuts through all of this with a word. One word. This word might just be the key to unlocking Ephesians... and our own brokenness.www.gvf.church

If you only read Paul's Letter to the Ephesians, you might think that their lives were charmed. They probably were but not in the way you're thinking. Acts 19 gives us the earthy, honest, beautiful, and magical (in the worst possible way) story behind this letter and this church. That’s what today is. It’s the story of the men and women, Jews and Gentiles, sinners and saints, who were called together by God to become the Church of Ephesus. This is their story.www.gvf.church

Something is rotten in the state of the American church. Our kids are walking away from the faith. Our families are imploding. Our leaders are failing. Our lives become just as anxious and busy and addicted and joyless and restless as those who do not know Jesus. In this message, we explore what we can do - indeed must do - if we hope to break the norms of today and become a church where life transformation is normal.

The Apostle Paul says: "You are God's Temple." Of course, the only problem with this is that you & I have precisely zero experience with temples. How can we possibly be God’s Temple, if we have no idea what a temple is or does? In this message, we're going to try to fix this problem. We're going to explore what God's Temple is and was so that we can begin to become who we are called to be in this place called Church. www.gvf.church

Committed, self-giving relationships are the stuff of life. They are the soil in which we are designed to flourish & bear much fruit. But, they can also be the worst. They can feel like death. In this message, we're going to explore how God uses committed, self-giving relationships in this place called church to grow you and fulfill His mission. 1 John 4 & Romans 12.www.gvf.church

Psalm 92 is a song "for the Sabbath." God's People have been singing it for 1000s of years. It's a song that invites us to step out of slavery, out of chronic busyness, and out of this world of anxiety and into a place called Sabbath. This week, we are going to listen carefully to this song and explore what it might look like for this place called church to become a Sabbath House: a place of deep play, rest, delight, and renewal in the midst of a chronically anxious and busy world. www.gvf.church

We're in a series called, A Place Called Church. For the next month, we'll be seeding our minds with Biblical stories  so that they might take root in us and give us God's vision for what this place called "church" could be. This week, we'll ask the question that many have been asking: Why go to church at all? Why do we gather? Is it really necessary to have a place called church?

If we want to capture a vision of who we could be, we need to make sure we're clear on who we were created to be. This week, we are kicking off a series called, A Place Called Church. For the next month, we'll be seeding our minds with Biblical stories and images so that they might take root in us and give us God's vision for what this place called "church" could be. This week, we'll start at the beginning. Literally. In this message, we'll explore the foundational narrative for understanding who I am, why I’m here, why there is something rather than nothing. In Hebrew, it's simply named for the first line of the book, "In the beginning." We know it as Genesis.www.gvf.church

SALT. It disinfects, it preserves, it changes the environment it's in, it makes you want more of whatever it's on. LIGHT. It chases away darkness. It's beautiful. It's fast. It cleans. It sustains life. Being called salt and light by Jesus himself is pretty daunting. So how do we live up to it? How can we live in this world and act like salt and light? Tune in to find out how we can be salt and light that Jesus was asking us to be. www.gvf.church

The Apostle Paul encourages believers in Christ to "present their bodies as a living sacrifice"...which sounds almost poetic. But have you ever tried to sacrifice something living? Living things squirm. Dodge. Move. Avoid pain like their life depends on it...because it does! So how do we do it? ...well, tune in to part 2 of our 3 part series, "In It, Not Of It" to find out.www.gvf.church

Being "in" the world but not "of" it is a tricky thing. The Amish live what they call a "plain life", devoid of electricity, cars and even zippers on their clothes, in an effort to not become "of" culture. On the other hand, we see some Christians today who dress, act, talk and live in a way that is practically indistinguishable from the culture around them, in hopes of lowering barriers to building Godly relationships. So what's the right response? Join us as we open God's word, and discover how Jesus lived out his answer to this tough question.

In Luke 10, Jesus tells the Parable of the Good Samaritan. It is well known but not well understood. Today, we might culturally translate it as the Parable of the Good Abortion Doctor or the Parable of the Good Capital Rioter, depending on your political tribe. This parable is outrageous, offensive, unsafe... and, perhaps, a message our world needs to hear more than ever.www.gvf.church/parables

Listening, really listening is essential to getting in on the Kingdom of God and experiencing the life of Jesus. It is about more than mastering the meaning of words. It takes practice and patience. It likely takes unlearning what you think you know as much as it takes learning what you do not yet know. Through the parables, Jesus invites us to (re)learn how to listen. In this message, we explore the ancient Christian practice of lectio divina (sacred reading) as a way of relearning how to hear the voice of Jesus in the Word of God.