Pastor John’s Blog

Last Sunday we wrapped up our series teaching through the book of 1 Peter. The final few verses we covered emphasize living well now to finish well tomorrow. We saw that Peter surrounded himself with faithful friends in the gospel to help him finish well, in particular Silvanus and Mark. His example serves as a reminder that we all need strong mentors, peers, and mentees. We all need people who are pouring into us, and people who are at a similar level of spiritual growth to continue to sharpen us, plus those who we are pouring into.

One of the resources I keep on hand and use often is a little booklet with a basic plan of salvation, a description of baptism, a few pages on Christian Growth, and at the end, a 12 day Bible reading plan with selected passages from the Gospels on the life of Christ. I love giving this to new Christians (along with a card we created that has the page numbers in our Church Bibles) because there’s no better way to grow than to be in God’s Word (Hebrews 4:12) and this reading plan makes it easy.

One of my dreams came true this NFL season. Well, almost, then sort of. It had to do with the Philadelphia Eagles. I’m not talking about their Super Bowl win, but what happened in their playoff game against the Packers. The camera caught one of their star wide receivers, A.J. Brown, reading a book on the side lines in between plays. I was skeptical at first, thinking it must be staged, as I didn’t know any football players that read books growing up-kidding! But once I realized it was real, I thought, “Finally! The first step toward reading becoming a sport.” Not so fast, as the sports media did not share the sentiment. Their responses were more like, “How could a truly committed player be reading on the sidelines? What? Is he bored? Is he ignoring everyone else? Doesn’t he realize there’s a game going on?” Of course people jumped to such conclusions pretty quickly without asking him.

In his book Atomic Habits, James Clear says the best kind of will-power is the kind you never have to use. Meaning, it’s a lot easier to resist whatever it is you’re trying to resist if you are able to avoid it all together. That’s why those who are trying to lose weight will remove all the junk food from their house. Sure, they could run out and buy more, but if it’s not there, that’s one less temptation lingering in the cupboard. 

The point of all this is that we can attempt to fix something but unless we get to the root of the problem, it will continue. We might fix it in the short-term but no lasting change will come unless you tackle the problem head on. This is true when it comes to our actions and behavior. What we do is always motivated by what we desire and think. Our desires can be positive or negative but it is what motivates us. Jesus helps us to understand that to experience the life-change of the Ten Commandments and the Gospel, we must look internally before we try to correct the external.

I don’t find myself caught off guard on Sunday mornings all that often, but there were two moments this week that surprised me. The first was the wave of boos and moans and groans when I said I was praying for more snow. Based on the weather reports, you seem safe this week, but I will keep praying! The second surprise was the number of hands that went up when I asked people to commit to taking a break from all social media and news this week. I confess I had low expectations, assuming just a few hands would go up, because I know it will be a big commitment. But wow what a response. I don’t know the exact numbers, but it seemed like a fourth of the crowd put up their hands. That is a big response. And I think it shows that our church is hungry for a change and hungry for freedom. 

Last Sunday we wrapped up our “Know Thyself” mini-series. This week we return to 1 Peter for the next six weeks. Read ahead in 1 Peter 4:7-11 as we prepare to focus on the power of prayer. If we want to see God move and Grow Valley View in the South End of Louisville, our starting place in 2025 is prayer. May He guide you to find more moments of prayer this week. 

About a year ago Kevin Brian, a student pastor here many years ago, stopped by to visit and brought with him twelve framed prints. These prints used to hang in the hallways flanking the sanctuary and included symbols representing some of the spiritual priorities of the church. One has in the center of the print two Greek letters overlaid on one another: Alpha and Omega.

No matter your feelings about winter weather, one thing is the same, we had no control over it. We all had our plans for the last few days. Church was scheduled for Sunday, Monday was supposed to be the start of school, AWANAs, students, and D-Groups were all supposed to start Wednesday. I’m sure you had your plans as well for family and work, and yet when winter weather shows up, things necessarily must change. Our plans must submit to the dictates of the weather, and, ultimately, we must humble ourselves to this reality that we are not in control of something as normal as the weather.

What is your word for 2025? If you could look back and have one word true of you at the end of the year, what would it be? Choose that word now and begin praying for God to be at work in your life. Most mornings I begin the day praying for genuine joy to be pervasive in my life. I read Psalm 40 and reflect on the truths in it, like verse 8, “I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”