January 19, 2025
What does it feel like to be stuck in the same struggle for eighteen years — and to believe it will never change? In this message from our series “The Calling,” we meet a woman who had been bent over by a disabling spirit for eighteen long years. She didn’t ask Jesus for anything. But He saw her, called her over, freed her, touched her, and restored her — immediately, and she glorified God.
We also meet a ruler of the synagogue who was so concerned with rules and regulations that he completely missed what God was doing right in front of him. Jesus’ response reveals His heart for the individual: “Ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?” (Luke 13:16). Drawing on His own announcement of His mission in Luke 4 — to proclaim good news to the poor, liberty to the captives, and freedom for the oppressed — Pastor Joel shows that it is not your job to free yourself; it is the Messiah’s job to free you.
Whether Jesus is calling you to salvation, to freedom from a bondage you’ve carried for years, out of spiritual blindness, or into the light of a relationship with God, this message is an invitation to respond. And it ends with a challenge: who are you calling? Who is the individual God is putting on your heart to be reconciled to Him?
#TheCalling #BigValleyGrace #Sermon #Luke13 #FreedomInChrist
January 12, 2025
Does Jesus have the authority to call the crowd to follow him? In week two of “The Calling” at Big Valley Grace Community Church in Modesto, California, Pastor Joel — newly promoted to “Big Pop” after becoming a grandfather on January 1 — teaches from Matthew 21–22, where Jesus’s call to the crowd divides it into two groups: those who accept him and those who reject him. Opening with stories about yelling at referees when his teams lose and a $50 parking ticket for a truck with a for-sale sign, he shows that everyone has a relationship with authority — and many assume there are three options with Jesus: reject him, submit to him, or stay neutral. There is no neutral option.
When the chief priests and elders demand, “By what authority are you doing these things?”, Jesus answers with three parables of judgment: the two sons (obedience to God is better than false promises — tax collectors and prostitutes repented and entered ahead of the religious leaders), the tenants (rejecting God’s servants and even his own son leads to judgment — Jesus is both the rejected son and the rejected cornerstone), and the wedding feast (the invitation goes out to all, bad and good — but only those willing to put on the wedding garment, provided by the king, are welcomed in). The wedding garment is Jesus — our robe of righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21). “Many are called, but few are chosen.” And if you get into the disciple-making business, you will be rejected — so are you willing to be rejected by many to find the one God has ready to take off the grave clothes and put on the wedding garment?
#TheCalling #AuthorityOfJesus #Parables #ManyAreCalled #BigValleyGrace
January 5, 2025
Happy New Year from Big Valley Grace Community Church in Modesto, California! In the first message of the new series “The Calling,” Pastor Joel looks at how Jesus called the twelve disciples to follow him — beginning with Matthew 4:18–22 (mirrored almost word for word in Mark 1:16–20). While walking by the Sea of Galilee, Jesus sees two sets of brothers — Simon Peter and Andrew, James and John — casting and mending their nets, and says just two words that change everything: “Follow me… and I will make you fishers of men.” And immediately they left their nets, their boat, and their father, and followed him.
Why the abrupt response? Drawing on Luke 5 (the miraculous catch of fish that made Peter fall down saying “depart from me, for I am a sinful man”) and John 1 (John the Baptist’s “Behold, the Lamb of God,” and Andrew bringing his brother to Jesus), Pastor Joel shows how Jesus comes after people, pursues people, and calls people — getting into our boat, speaking as the Master, and answering our fear with “do not be afraid.” Jesus is the Savior from sin, the hope of the nations, and the God of creation who defines our identity. From “follow me” came the discipleship chain reaction — disciples making disciples, all the way to us — and the invitation is the same today: whose boat will you get into this year?
#TheCalling #FollowMe #Discipleship #FishersOfMen #BigValleyGrace
January 5, 2025
Wouldn’t you love for God to call your name audibly, the way He called young Samuel in the temple — and then simply lay out exactly what He wants you to do? In this message from our series “The Calling,” we’re reminded that while God may not speak to us that way, He has spoken directly to us through His Word — and He has a unique calling for each one of us.
Turning to Jesus’ letter to the church in Laodicea, this message walks through four callings Jesus has for your life: the call to PUT IT DOWN — to leave behind your old ways, and hardest of all, your sin; the call to PICK IT UP — both the good things Jesus offers and the hard thing of bearing your cross; the call to PUT IT ON — to be clothed in the righteousness and humility of Christ; and finally, the call to PASS IT ON. Drawing on stories from Dietrich Bonhoeffer and C.S. Lewis, this message asks: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock” (Revelation 3:20) — will you let Him in?
#TheCalling #BigValleyGrace #Sermon #Revelation3 #PassItOn