March 30, 2025
How do disciples of Jesus keep growing — at every age? In this family weekend sermon from Big Valley Grace Community Church in Modesto, California, we conclude the series on the church’s five core values — worship, serve, reach, connect, and grow — with the final week: grow, from the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18–20.
Jesus commissions his followers to make disciples, baptizing them and “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded” — and “observe” means obey. This message unpacks how disciples grow as they learn to obey the commands of Jesus, using a memorable four-letter framework the whole family can practice: O — Open God’s Word; B — Believe what you read is true; E — Expect Jesus to transform you (from the inside out, not the outside in); and Y — Yield to the help of the Holy Spirit.
With engaging stories — baseball, rodeo, and video game equipment; a billboard on Highway 120 selling “confidence” you can wear; the true cost of raising kids in California; and a mother’s lesson about stopping a bird from building a nest in your hair — this message shows that God’s Word is living, active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and that the blessing is found in hearing the word of God and keeping it. It closes with an invitation to take the Easter family reading challenge through the Gospel of John — and with children filling the stage to shout the four points.
Perfect for families, new believers, and anyone wanting to grow in Christ. Watch, subscribe, and grow with us at Big Valley Grace.
#Grow #Discipleship #GreatCommission #BigValleyGrace #FamilyMinistry
March 23, 2025
What does it mean to truly belong to a church family? In this sermon from Big Valley Grace Community Church in Modesto, California, we continue the series on the church’s five core values — worship, serve, reach, connect, and grow — with week four: connect.
Using a memorable football huddle analogy, the speaker — a former high school quarterback — pictures the church gathered to hear the “play” from our Coach, the Lord: be devoted to one another, accept one another, care for one another, bear one another’s burdens, encourage and build up one another, confess your sins to one another, pray for one another, serve one another, love one another. But the world doesn’t care about the huddle — what matters is running the play when we break: in our neighborhoods, our jobs, our everyday lives. And we can’t fulfill these “one another” commands sitting in rows looking at the back of someone’s neck — we have to get into smaller groups and truly connect.
Drawing on Ephesians 2:19 and John 1:12–13, the message shows that being a Christian means not just believing but belonging — the church is not an institution, a religious club, or a business; it is a family. The message closes with two practical steps: obey God’s word and get baptized, and be courageous — take the initiative to join a small group, a men’s or women’s ministry, Celebrate Recovery, young adults, or a life group.
If you’ve been attending church but never truly connected, this message is for you.
#Connect #ChurchFamily #SmallGroups #BigValleyGrace #Baptism
March 16, 2025
What plan did Jesus use to build his church? In this sermon from Matthew 28:16–20, Pastor Joel of Big Valley Grace Community Church in Modesto, California, continues the series on the church’s five core values — worship, serve, reach, connect, and grow — with week three: reach, centered on the Great Commission.
Drawing on Matthew 16, where Jesus declares “I will build my church,” and the risen Jesus’s command to “go therefore and make disciples of all nations,” Pastor Joel shows that Jesus uses disciples — ordinary believers like us — as his plan to build his church. There are people all around us — family, coworkers, classmates, neighbors — who are living without God, and we have the opportunity to introduce them to him. The message confronts the enemy’s number one lie (“God’s not going to use you”) and walks through seven marks of a disciple who reaches: following the last instruction, responding to God with love and worship, listening to his words, surrendering to Jesus as Lord of all authority, looking for opportunities to serve him, leading others to follow him, and longing for the whole world to know him.
With practical prompts from Colossians 4, Acts 1, and 2 Peter 3, this message challenges every believer to fill a prayer card with names of people who need Jesus — and to believe God can save them. If you care about evangelism, discipleship, missions, or the Great Commission, this message is for you.
#Reach #GreatCommission #Matthew28 #BigValleyGrace #Evangelism
March 9, 2025
What does it mean to have a heart to serve? In this sermon from Big Valley Grace Community Church in Modesto, California, we continue the series on the church’s five core values — worship, serve, reach, connect, and grow — with week two: serve. Building on the greatest commandment in Matthew 22:34–40 to love God and love our neighbor, this message explores how loving our neighbor happens through service.
Walking through Philippians 2, John 13, Mark 10:45, and 1 Peter 4, the message shows that the ultimate example of service is Jesus himself — the suffering servant of Isaiah. We see his service in three ways: in his arrival, leaving the throne room of heaven to be born in a manger and take the form of a servant (doulos, a slave); in his ministry, through his teaching on faithfulness with our time, talents, and treasures, his miracles that met people’s physical needs, and his humble washing of the disciples’ feet; and ultimately in his death, as he gave his life as a ransom for many — the greatest act of service and love in history.
The message includes practical ways to serve in everyday life, the NEIGHBOR acrostic (notice, empathize, intervene, give, humble, befriend, overflow, re-engage), and an invitation to serve in the church’s ministries — students, kids, worship, care, and more. If you’re asking how to use your spiritual gifts and follow Jesus’s example of sacrificial, selfless love, this message is for you.
#Serve #ServingOthers #BigValleyGrace #SpiritualGifts #CoreValues
March 2, 2025
What is the most important thing in the entire Bible? In this sermon from Mark 12:28–34, Pastor Joel of Big Valley Grace Community Church in Modesto, California, walks through Jesus’ answer to a scribe’s question: “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus answers with the Shema — “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one” — and calls us to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves.
This message launches a new series on the five core values of Big Valley Grace — worship, serve, reach, connect, and grow — beginning with worship. Drawing on Ephesians 4:11–12, Deuteronomy 6, Romans 12, and the greatest commandment passages in Matthew 22 and Luke 10, Pastor Joel shows how disciples of Jesus are equipped with a priority, a theology, a commandment, an action, and a master — and how each one stands in stark contrast to the message of our culture. True worship is not just singing songs on Sunday; it is surrendering our whole lives to the lordship of Jesus Christ.
Whether you’re exploring the Christian faith, learning discipleship, or seeking to grow in your love for God, this message will help you answer the question: “Today I surrender ___ over to the lordship of Jesus Christ.”
Watch the full sermon, subscribe for weekly messages from Big Valley Grace Community Church, and join us in loving God with everything we are.
#Worship #GreatestCommandment #Mark12 #BigValleyGrace #Discipleship