Feed Editor 28 Feb 2009 20:08:17 GMT Valley Covenant News and Information http://www.valleycovenant.org mail@valleycovenant.org http://www.valleycovenant.org en-us mail@valleycovenant.org God made the family life of Hosea the prophet a living and continuous picture of His own love for His people. The awful names Hosea is told to give his three children mirror the terrible identities we place upon our own selves when we are apart from our true identity in Jesus Christ, our identity as children of God. 25 Jul 2010 14:51:27 GMT http://www.valleycovenant.org/sermons/sermonarchive/2010Sermons/2010-07-25.htm We are starving, not so much for food here in America, but for the sound of God's voice. Amos chapter 8 addresses the spiritual famine which afflicted Israel and which afflicts us. In the midst of frantic business as usual, we are unable to listen to God's perspective on our lives. Turning off a cell phone or a computer might be the beginning of a feast. 18 Jul 2010 14:56:07 GMT http://www.valleycovenant.org/sermons/sermonarchive/2010Sermons/2010-07-18.htm God holds a plumb line in Amos 7:7-17, demonstrating that His people are out of line with His basic standard of love for our neighbors. That plumb line comes alive in the Gospel lesson from Luke 10:25-37 as Jesus' famous parable offers a living example of God's standard of love. 11 Jul 2010 15:14:00 GMT http://www.valleycovenant.org/sermons/sermonarchive/2010Sermons/2010-07-11.htm Naaman the Syrian follows advice for healing his leprosy that leads him to the Elisha in Israel. But then he is reluctant to do what's asked by the prophet. We learn that what God asks of us is often not spectacular or dramatic but simple, small acts of faith. 5 Jul 2010 21:44:35 GMT http://www.valleycovenant.org/sermons/sermonarchive/2010Sermons/2010-07-04.htm Guest preacher Mike Fargo speaks about Elijah's departure in II Kings 2:1-14 and shows how it calls us to center our lives in devotion to God. 5 Jul 2010 21:40:39 GMT http://www.valleycovenant.org/sermons/sermonarchive/2010Sermons/2010-06-27.htm Oil spilling into the waters of the gulf is a vivid image of the darkness that blankets our lives when we live, like King Ahab did, for getting what we want. Yet even as we covet what we do not have and fall into further sin, God gives us grace and mercy we did not expect. 13 Jun 2010 14:11:58 GMT http://www.valleycovenant.org/sermons/sermonarchive/2010Sermons/2010-06-13.htm God loves it when His plan comes together. That's the message of a text we don't read very often, Proverbs 1-4, 22-31, which is assigned for Trinity Sunday. Here we see Lady Wisdom declaring that she was with God when He created the world and we learn from early Christians that Wisdom can be identified with Christ. Jesus is God's plan and design for creation and for our lives and God is delighted when it all comes together. 30 May 2010 14:01:48 GMT http://www.valleycovenant.org/sermons/sermonarchive/2010Sermons/2010-05-30.htm Pentecost is often said to be the undoing of Babel, that ancient story in Genesis 11:1-9 of God coming down to confuse the languages of humanity. That's not quite the whole truth. The coming of the Holy Spirit does not so much undo Babel as transform it into a blessing. 23 May 2010 14:51:34 GMT http://www.valleycovenant.org/sermons/sermonarchive/2010Sermons/2010-05-23.htm We hear Joshua himself tell us about his parting speeches to the people of Israel in Joshua 23 and 24, encouraging them to serve the Lord and warning them of the consequences for failure. We are reminded of the choice before us today. 16 May 2010 14:09:11 GMT http://www.valleycovenant.org/sermons/sermonarchive/2010Sermons/2010-05-16.htm It's hard to see children grow up and move away. We worry about how they will fare and how they will behave when they are far from home. In Joshua 22, the larger part of Israel on the west side of the Jordan had cause to fear what those on the east side would do as they departed after all the wars were over. There was a misunderstanding that almost led to war. Fortunately it led to a renewed and stronger unity, even over the distance and barrier of the Jordan River. 9 May 2010 14:17:38 GMT http://www.valleycovenant.org/sermons/sermonarchive/2010Sermons/2010-05-09.htm We wonder why God puts us in the places we land, often not where we expected or even where we want to be. We don't have all the things or the home we would like, yet here we are. That's the way it was with the Levites as they are scattered around Israel in Joshua 21, taking potluck of whatever cities the other tribes choose to give them. Yet God had a purpose in spreading the Levites out over Israel and He has a purpose in scattering us around our communities. 25 Apr 2010 13:59:48 GMT http://www.valleycovenant.org/sermons/sermonarchive/2010Sermons/2010-04-25.htm Sometimes we would all like a safe place to hide, a refuge. As we hear in Joshua 20 about the cities of refuge set up by Joshua in ancient Israel, we learn about the greater refuge God has set up for us in the grace of Jesus Christ. We see that refuge offered specifically to Peter at the end of John's Gospel and we realize that we have a part in offering God's refuge to all who need it. 18 Apr 2010 14:07:45 GMT http://www.valleycovenant.org/sermons/sermonarchive/2010Sermons/2010-04-18.htm The seven chapters of Joshua 13-19 appear to be "mind-numbingly" dull. Yet they are the heart of the story. God kept His promise to give His people an inheritance of land, a place for their own. In Jesus Christ, God kept His promise to give you and me forgiveness and salvation and eternal life. Yet both in Canaan and in our lives there has been much unclaimed territory. As the Israelites had space to conquer and claim even after receiving their divisions of land, we as Christians have spiritual and mission "spaces" that still need to be claimed for our Lord. 11 Apr 2010 13:56:33 GMT http://www.valleycovenant.org/sermons/sermonarchive/2010Sermons/2010-04-11.htm To live as long as a tree would be a wonderful thing, and Isaiah 65:17-25 pictures just that kind of human lifespan in a new world to be recreated by God. Christians believe that new world began on the "eighth day of creation," the day after Saturday the old Sabbath, the Sunday on which Jesus rose from the dead. We gather on Easter to celebrate the new beginning and hope we have because Christ is risen. 4 Apr 2010 14:36:56 GMT http://www.valleycovenant.org/sermons/sermonarchive/2010Sermons/2010-04-04.htm In May 2003 President Bush made what seemed like a premature announcement of victory in Iraq. In Joshua 11 and 12 there is a seemingly premature celebration of Israel's victory over the Canaanites and total conquest of the Promised Land. We learn how it's possible to celebrate victory in Christ even while the war is still going on. 21 Mar 2010 14:14:24 GMT http://www.valleycovenant.org/sermons/sermonarchive/2010Sermons/2010-03-21.htm As we set our clocks ahead to extend daylight into the evening hours, we hear about a day long ago when God extended daylight further than ever before and ever since. God's purpose in Joshua 10 was to allow Israel to finish saving their allies in a war of rescue. We remember that God patiently extends the present day of salvation so that all who want may receive the grace of Christ and so that we who believe may have every opportunity to share the good news. 14 Mar 2010 14:07:00 GMT http://www.valleycovenant.org/sermons/sermonarchive/2010Sermons/2010-03-14.htm Con men lie and deceive in order to steal and sometimes to save their own skins. In Joshua 9 we meet some clever con men from Gibeon who trick Israel into saving them from God's wrath on the Canaanites. Yet their trick strangely turns out to be a vehicle for God's own greatest trick, mercy for those who do not deserve it. 7 Mar 2010 14:22:11 GMT http://www.valleycovenant.org/sermons/sermonarchive/2010Sermons/2010-03-07.htm Like a skater getting back up after a fall on the ice, Joshua and the army of Israel get back up the mountain for another try at conquering the city of Ai. In Joshua 8 we watch the commander and his people be restored to fighting courage and also watch them be renewed in their covenant with God, receiving His blessing. 28 Feb 2010 14:41:19 GMT http://www.valleycovenant.org/sermons/sermonarchive/2010Sermons/2010-02-28.htm One man takes what does not belong to him, and a whole nation suffers defeat in a battle. It seems unfair, but the story of Achan is a lesson in how seriously God regards sin. It's also an occasion for us to discover how our salvation in Jesus Christ is rooted more in a corporate identity than in our individual spiritual condition. 21 Feb 2010 14:17:22 GMT http://www.valleycovenant.org/sermons/sermonarchive/2010Sermons/2010-02-21.htm On Transfiguration Sunday we read the Old Testament text which tells of Moses face shining as he came down the mountain from speaking with God. This prefigures the shining countenance of Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration. The brightness of God at first seems unbearable in all that it reveals about us. Yet as we spend time in the glow which Jesus brings we discover that it is bearable -- in two ways. 14 Feb 2010 14:46:50 GMT http://www.valleycovenant.org/sermons/sermonarchive/2010Sermons/2010-02-14.htm A story often told to children, the battle of Jericho, offers us lessons in devotion to the Lord. First, a lesson in the patient devotion of regular worship, then a harder, darker lesson about devoting to God everything that we have. 7 Jan 2010 14:28:00 GMT http://www.valleycovenant.org/sermons/sermonarchive/2010Sermons/2010-02-07.htm In Joshua chapter 5, God gives His people a spiritual "reboot" through the events of three odd little narratives about circumcision, the Passover, and a strange visitor carrying a sword. We are reminded that God regularly reboots our lives so that we can begin again and enter the new lands into which He is calling us. 31 Jan 2010 14:30:24 GMT http://www.valleycovenant.org/sermons/sermonarchive/2010Sermons/2010-01-31.htm As the Israelites camped beside the swollen, flooded Jordan River, it must have seemed impossible that their thousands of men, women, children and animals would cross it the next day. Yet the presence of God led them on a way they had never been before and they saw amazing things. In the same way, God's presence in Jesus Christ gets us through whatever deep waters we are facing. 17 Jan 2010 14:05:33 GMT http://www.valleycovenant.org/sermons/sermonarchive/2010Sermons/2010-01-17.htm Foes found friends behind enemy lines in the story of Rahab in Joshua chapter 2. Rahab sheltered and saved a couple of Israelite spies and in the process found her own salvation. Yet the story is even larger, for Rahab has a place in our own salvation through Christ. God is at work behind enemy lines. 10 Jan 2010 14:23:24 GMT http://www.valleycovenant.org/sermons/sermonarchive/2010Sermons/2010-01-10.htm Beginning a series of sermons on the book of Joshua, we see how chapter 1 offers a recipe for courage as we face the unknown challenges of a new year. 3 Jan 2010 14:19:37 GMT http://www.valleycovenant.org/sermons/sermonarchive/2010Sermons/2010-01-03.htm