Gvf // Grace Valley Fellowship

Who are you? What is ultimate reality like? Is our universe basically governed by impersonal laws or is it ultimately relational and personal? In Luke 15, Jesus tells us a story that challenges how we see and experience... everything. It's a story that explains why we feel so lost. But, it's also a story that - if you let it - might just worm its way into your heart and mind and pull you into a deep, rich, fullness of life with God the Father.  May it wreck you the way it has been wrecking people for 2,000 years.

OK, I get it. I’m supposed to be on this journey of personal transformation so that my life looks progressively more like Jesus. But my transformation-journey can, all-too-often, seem excruciatingly slow and, sometimes, end up in a ditch. Maybe, yours too? Our faith waivers, gets weary, and can even forget to show up. This Sunday we’ll be exploring a fascinating WORD that Jesus used with his disciples to describe how He can intervene in their and our bumpy faith-journeys in such a way as to transform our struggling and failings into strengths and eternal fruit. That word is “SIFTING.”  A process that can be painful, and yet so very promising.

In Luke 13, Jesus invites us to walk with Him as we wrestle with one of life's most perplexing questions: How do we make sense of senseless evil? Where do we find God in this world of injustice & suffering? But, if you're looking for a simple answer, you'll need a different Messiah. Jesus doesn't want to make this simple. He wants to tell us a story.

In Luke 16, Jesus tosses out this story about a crooked manager who is commended for his shrewdness in flushing a bunch of his master's money when it can secure him something better. It's an uncomfortable story. Talking about money usually is. It will lead us to explore the dark power that money has over us, the things we believe about God & money, and the possibility that you might want to buy a margarita machine.www.gvf.church

On this baptism Sunday, we look at parable that reveals the beauty of the Good News of Jesus: God loves sinners. If you are a sinner, this is good news indeed.

Jesus told many stories, but there’s one story in particular that He seems to want us to hear first. In Matthew, Mark, & Luke, this story stands as a kind of entryway to the stories of Jesus. You must go through it if you hope to get inside. It's a story about a farmer sowing seeds, about Isaiah speaking to deaf people, and about how hearing has more to do with your heart than your ears.

The parables are those simple, confusing, humorous, cutting, encouraging, almost always unexpected and often irreverent little stories Jesus told. They are especially suited to worm their way into our hearts & minds. This week we are beginning a series on the parables of Jesus by asking that most basic question: Why? Why does Jesus speak in parables? Why does Jesus seem to think that parables, in particular, have the power to transform us from the inside out?

Samuel heard it but didn’t recognize it. Gideon heard it but doubted it. Isaiah heard it and was fearful. John The Baptist heard it, and was affirmed. Saul heard it and it knocked him to the ground. What about you? Have you ever heard the voice of God?

History matters. World history. Your personal history. The way you think about the past matters. In this final vision of Daniel, we get one last peek behind the veil of human history. There we see unseen forces at work in our past, the inevitable collapse of humanity apart from God, and the hope of resurrection. It's a vision that suggests if you only knew what was really happening, you'd be horrified... and yet not without hope.

If Jesus is alive and with us, then why is it so hard to see Him in your life? This Easter, we are invited to go on a journey that may feel familiar. It's an ancient story about people, who - like us - struggle to see Jesus even when He's walking right beside us. Luke 24:13-35

In Daniel 9, God allows us to peek behind the curtain of human history in this mysterious vision of 70 "sevens." We get a glimpse of the aim and end history. In it, two things become astoundingly clear: One, the end is certain. God wins. If you are a child of God, you will prevail. And, two, the road to the end will likely be more brutal than you can even imagine. Both are true. If we can cling to faith while facing this brutal reality, then three is almost nothing we cannot overcome.

If the Book of Daniel is an apocalypse (or unveiling) of human history, then Daniel 9 is an apocalypse of Daniel’s heart. It is the unveiling of what is really going on in Daniel’s soul. It allows us to peek behind the curtain to see what’s really going on. And it is stunning. In this text, we discover five things that shape Daniel's relationship with God and could transform your relationship with Him too.

At one level, Daniel 8 is just about some historic events. It's just the story of some king who persecutes the People of God. That’s it. But, as the story unfolds, something changes. We’re no longer just talking about some man. We're talking about the spiritual forces behind the man, spiritual forces that are still at work in our world today. This is an uncomfortable text that forces us to ask some uncomfortable questions about how we see the world.

In Daniel 7, we encounter something different. It’s a bit like Dorothy opening the door to Oz. Suddenly everything is in technicolor & bizarre. "We’re not in Kansas anymore." Daniel invites us to peak behind the curtain of human knowledge & see what can only be seen with eyes of faith. We are invited to hear the story of the end, the story of our world, the story our lives… as told by God.

Some people believe that extraordinary men and women of God do extraordinary things in times of crises. That's not true. In times of crisis Godly men and women continue to persist in the extraordinary things they have been practicing all along. It’s only in times of dire crisis when those things become like weapons in the battle, with which they are highly skilled.

You are going to die. Everything you create/do/build/write will one day end up on the dust pile of history. This world in its present form is passing away. It's an uncomfortable and unfortunate fact. In the modern world, whole industries are devoted to distracting us from this fact. But the fact remains. In a world inebriated with things that won't last, Daniel chapter 5 is a slap in the face. In this story, Daniel urges us to sober up and consider our lives in light of the end of all things.

Apart from God, we will forget what it means to be human. Society will go insane. Our lives will become increasingly animalistic. We will dehumanize ourselves and one another. The philosophers of old saw this coming, we see this happening in our world, and, in Daniel 4, we see this dramatically play out in the life of Nebuchadnezzar. Yet, even in when we are at our worst, God's love pursues us still.

The pressure to bow to the spirit of the age is not new. The tools of manipulation, control, and intimidation might be new, but the story is an ancient one. In Daniel chapter 3, we hear the story of three exiles who are forced to choose between bowing or being burned alive. It's a story that forces us to ask: How do you stand when the whole world is bowing to pressure? And, perhaps more importantly, where is God when my life is burning down?

He's wealthy and successful, but he can't sleep. He has the world's best security... but he's filled with anxiety. In Daniel chapter 2, we get an intimate look into the mind of one of the most powerful people in the history of the world. Through a dream, God reveals to Nebuchadnezzar (and to us) why we're so anxious, the aim of history, and how to get a good night's sleep.

We are in the midst of a cultural war, and our kids are at the frontlines. This week, we're pausing the Daniel series to host a panel discussion designed to help you practically wrestle with the question: How do we raise kids in Babylon? Or, more explicitly: How do we raise kids who know and love Jesus in a world that systematically works to deconstruct their identity, undermine their faith, and endlessly distract them? While we certainly don't have all the answers, we want to strive to encourage one another as we figure this out together.