Verde Valley Christian Church

Verde Valley Christian Church
Oct 30 – Nov 5, 2022

Series: The Story Of Reality
Title: "Reality is Puzzling"
Speaker: Jim Hammond

I. The BEGINNING of they story

Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Who? God

Hebrews 11:3
By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

Pagan religions believed matter was eternal and the gods shaped it. 

Darwin believed matter was eternal and that evolution shaped it. 

Big Bang Theory 

II. What do you believe is REALLY REAL?

The story of reality is the worldview that makes the most sense of everything.

Jigsaw puzzle of a World 🗺️ Map. One side is God’s view and the other side is a different view. Picture on the box helps you put the world together and the other side has no picture to show you how to put it together. 

III. Is reality a CLOSED BOX or an OPEN BOX?

Causal agent? Sciencetism 

Who Am I Serving?

Verde Valley Christian Churchill KO n
October 23, 2022 / "Who Am I Serving?"

Series: I Am a Servant
Title: "Who Am I Serving?"
Speaker: Jim Hammond

Joshua 24:14-15
"Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord."

I. Serving God is WORSHIP

II. FEAR of the Lord is foundational

Philippians 2:12-13
Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭24‬ ‭NET‬‬

III. Only God is WORTHY of our WORSHIP

Joshua 24:15
But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord."

“Come! Let’s bow down and worship! Let’s kneel before the Lord, our creator! For he is our God; we are the people of his pasture, the sheep he owns. Today, if only you would obey him!”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭95‬:‭6‬-‭7‬ ‭NET‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/107/psa.95.6-7.NET

Gotta Serve Somebody

Verde Valley Christian Church
Oct 16 – 22, 2022

Series: I Am a Servantl
Title: "Gotta Serve Somebody"
Speaker: Jim Hammond

I. There are two MASTERS in this WORLD

Ephesians 2:1-3
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.

Colossians 1:13
For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,

2 Corinthians 5:15
And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

II. ONLY ONE is worth SERVING

Romans 6:16-18
Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

III. Servants OBEY

My Lord Jesus Christ, I humble myself and bow my knee before you. I worship and serve you as my Lord and Savior. I am your servant. I offer myself to you. I will serve, honor, and obey you. "Here am I, send me." Amen!

Is It My Nature to Serve?

Verde Valley Christian Church
Oct 2, 2022

Series: I Am a Servant
Title: Is It My Nature to Serve?
Speaker: Jim Hammond

1. True serving is SELF-GIVING love

Mark 10:45
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

2. Counterfeit serving is "SELFIE" service

Matthew 6:2-4
"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

3. SERVANT is our VERY NATURE

Jesus not only taught us to serve, he saved us so that we are able to serve God and people according to our "very nature" as human beings. We were created to serve, and saved to serve as Jesus himself served.

Matthew 10:39
If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it.

Philippians 2:3-11
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

My Lord Jesus Christ,

Thank you for restoring my "very nature" as a servant through your saving life, death, and resurrection. I bow my knee before you and acknowledge "that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father"andI worship and serve you as my Lord and Savior.

I confess I still have trouble "valuing others above" myself. I still frequently look to my own interests, rather than the interests of others.

Thank you for your forgiveness and washing me clean.

Fill me with your love, and your life by the resurrection power of your Spirit placed within me.

I am your servant. I offer myself to you. I will serve, honor, and obey you. "Here am I, send me."

I pray this in the name that is exalted above every other name, the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen!