Newsletter Archives http://www.vbcva.org David created a huge problem for himself. He was guilty of adultery and murder. According to the Law, there was nothing David could do so he did the only thing he could do, true confession. http://www.vbcva.org/articles_view.asp?articleid=78388&columnid=4649 Sun, 10 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0400 Confessing is saying God I agree with you that what I did is wrong. Confessing is saying God I stand with you against me in this matter. We can't make excuses or refuse to acknowledge a particular act as sin. When we do that we put a barrier between ourselves and God. In essence, we deny that His word about our sinful act is true and cut ourselves off from His transforming power. The reason many Christians have leveled out in our spiritual growth is because of their refusal to acknowledge sin and because of that the Holy Spirit is prevented from His work of regeneration. http://www.vbcva.org/articles_view.asp?articleid=78387&columnid=4649 Sun, 3 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0400 Many people are not maturing in Jesus because of one simple factor, un-confessed sin. Confession is more than admitting that something is wrong, more than a half-hearted apology, and more than many are willing to do. http://www.vbcva.org/articles_view.asp?articleid=78386&columnid=4649 Sun, 24 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0400 We need to gird ourselves with towels and learn how to serve within the Kingdom. When we look at the cross we should think about submission. Jesus willingly went to the cross in obedience to the Father's will. Every time you look at a towel, you should think about service. If we want to be great in the Kingdom we need to learn how to become the least. http://www.vbcva.org/articles_view.asp?articleid=78261&columnid=4649 Sun, 17 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0400 Our service is not out of our desire to please people, to be seen by people, or because we like the people we are serving. Our service is born out of a divine urging or a desire to worship God. http://www.vbcva.org/articles_view.asp?articleid=78222&columnid=4649 Sun, 10 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0400 Before Jesus went to a cross to die, his life had to be worthy of the cross on which He had to be hung. http://www.vbcva.org/articles_view.asp?articleid=78183&columnid=4649 Sun, 3 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0400 Submission is not a new word in the church but it is one that is highly abused. Congregants are often reminded they need to do something because they must submit to the leadership. Wives are often reminded that they must submit to their husbands; children to their parents and many other religious overtones that exist in churches today. Nothing puts more people into bondage than religion and there is no greater tool to work this bondage than the improper teaching and understanding of submission. http://www.vbcva.org/articles_view.asp?articleid=78182&columnid=4649 Sun, 27 Jan 2013 00:00:00 -0400 We need to have an inner silence that squashes all the voices inside of us except the voice of God. Solitude and inner silence are inseparable; you can't have one without the other. http://www.vbcva.org/articles_view.asp?articleid=78049&columnid=4649 Sun, 13 Jan 2013 00:00:00 -0400 The Christian Discipline of simplicity is an inward reality that results in an outward life-style. Both the inward and the outward aspects of simplicity are essential. We deceive ourselves if we believe we can possess the inward reality without its having a profound effect on how we live. To attempt to arrange an outward life-style of simplicity without the inward reality leads to deadly legalism. Experiencing the inward reality liberates us outwardly. http://www.vbcva.org/articles_view.asp?articleid=78047&columnid=4649 Sun, 30 Dec 2012 00:00:00 -0400 George Fox warns, "... there is the danger and the temptation to you, of drawing your minds into your business, and clogging them with it; so that ye can hardly do anything to the service of God... and your minds will go into the things, and not over the things.... And then, if the Lord God cross you, and stop you by sea and land, and take [your] goods and customs from you, that your minds should not be cumbered, then that mind that is cumbered, will fret, being out of the power of God." http://www.vbcva.org/articles_view.asp?articleid=78048&columnid=4649 Sun, 30 Dec 2012 00:00:00 -0400 It is proper study that causes the transformation. Too many Christians remain in bondage to fears and anxieties simply because they don't properly study the Word. http://www.vbcva.org/articles_view.asp?articleid=78046&columnid=4649 Sun, 2 Dec 2012 00:00:00 -0400 One of our primary directives once we get saved is to grow closer to God. The interesting thing is we act as if it is a great mystery as to how to get closer to God. http://www.vbcva.org/articles_view.asp?articleid=77636&columnid=4649 Sun, 28 Oct 2012 00:00:00 -0400 However, many people who have come to Jesus don't enjoy the rest? http://www.vbcva.org/articles_view.asp?articleid=77638&columnid=4649 Sun, 21 Oct 2012 00:00:00 -0400 Whether it is from the pulpit or just in general conversation, people are engaged in conversation about the election and I'm not suggesting that's a negative. What is a negative is that God is not usually the center of the conversation. God may be talked about in the sense of which party is more in line with God but it is usually from an attack posture. Christians are discussing how much better or worse their lives will be if their candidate does not get into office. It's good that people are having a discussion, its better if you get out and exercise your right to vote, but it is best to remember the vote that was cast in your favor. When Jesus came and died for your sins, that was God voting for you. http://www.vbcva.org/articles_view.asp?articleid=77637&columnid=4649 Sun, 14 Oct 2012 00:00:00 -0400 As part of our responsibilities as Christians, it is incumbent upon us to begin to see things the same way that God sees them. We should begin to view sin the way that God views sin and the natural outcome of changing the way we think about an activity is a change in the way we react to the activity. For example, if God views cherry pie as a sin; then no matter how much I enjoy the taste of cherry pie, I need to develop a dislike for cherry pie strong enough to keep me from indulging in cherry pie. Until that change happens in my thinking then I will continue to partake of cherry pie. The more I like, the more opportunity I have, the more I indulge.But it is not simply sin that we must view as God views it; we must also view life as God views it. http://www.vbcva.org/articles_view.asp?articleid=77635&columnid=4649 Sun, 30 Sep 2012 00:00:00 -0400 Victory celebrates it's 14th year serving the Front Royal community. http://www.vbcva.org/articles_view.asp?articleid=76924&columnid=4649 Fri, 1 Jun 2012 00:00:00 -0400 Victory celebrates it's 14th year serving the Front Royal community. http://www.vbcva.org/articles_view.asp?articleid=76916&columnid=4649 Thu, 31 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400 Victory celebrates it's 14th year serving the Front Royal community. http://www.vbcva.org/articles_view.asp?articleid=76909&columnid=4649 Wed, 30 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400 God has shown throughout redemptive history that He has selected people to bring about his plan of redemption. Those people that He selected have been called 'holy' or have been 'sanctified' for His purpose. There is no reason for us to believe that He has stopped that practice and there is no reason why you could not in the long line of people who have already been selected, if that is what you desire. http://www.vbcva.org/articles_view.asp?articleid=76751&columnid=4649 Sun, 29 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0400 There is a saying that you never ask a Texan if he is a Texan. If he is a Texan, he'll let you know it without your asking. If he is not a Texan, you wouldn't want to embarrass him! A Christian ought to walk in such a way that you know he is a child of God without asking him. We all need to look carefully how we walk. http://www.vbcva.org/articles_view.asp?articleid=76725&columnid=4649 Sun, 22 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0400 Wilson Johnson, the founder of Holiday Inn motels, once said,"When I was forty years old I worked in a sawmill. One morning the boss told me I was fired. Depressed and discouraged, I felt like the world had caved in. When I told my wife what had happened, she asked me what I was going to do. I replied, 'I'm going to mortgage our little home and go into the building business.'"My first venture was the construction of two small buildings. Within five years I was a multimillionaire! At the time it happened, I didn't understand why I was fired. Later, I saw that it was God's unerring and wondrous plan to get me into the way of his choosing. http://www.vbcva.org/articles_view.asp?articleid=76687&columnid=4649 Sun, 15 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0400 The Rev. Alfred W. Wishart, Jr., opened his Easter sermon at the Arlington Avenue Presbyterian Church of East Orange, N. J., with these words:"Did you ever stop to think how much time it takes to get all of you looking so nice for today? What with the shopping and all, I'd conservatively estimate that it took each of you four hours to get ready. Since there are about 500 of you here, that comes to 2,000 hours. Now if you divide that up into 40-hour workweeks and allow two weeks for vacation, it breaks down into a full year of preparation for Easter Sunday. "So that's where you've been since last year." http://www.vbcva.org/articles_view.asp?articleid=76661&columnid=4649 Sun, 8 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0400 In many of the action movies people like Wesley Snipes, Chuck Norris, Clint Eastwood, and Steven Segal take on armies all by themselves and come out victorious. You know what happens in reality when you try to take on the issues of your life by yourself; you die. http://www.vbcva.org/articles_view.asp?articleid=76573&columnid=4649 Sun, 25 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0400 A rather crude and cruel experiment was carried out by Emperor Frederick, who ruled the Roman Empire in the thirteenth century. He wanted to know what man's original language was: Hebrew, Greek, or Latin? He decided to isolate a few infants from the sound of the human voice. He reasoned that they would eventually speak the natural tongue of man. Wet nurses who were sworn to absolute silence were obtained, and though it was difficult for them, they abided by the rule. The infants never heard a word -- not a sound from a human voice. Within several months they were all dead. http://www.vbcva.org/articles_view.asp?articleid=76542&columnid=4649 Sun, 18 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0400 In the words of those great theologians, Frankie Beverly and Maze, "Don't it seem we go through life going up and down Seems the things that turn you on turn you around Always hurting each other if it ain't one thing its another But when the world is down on you love's somewhere around" http://www.vbcva.org/articles_view.asp?articleid=76499&columnid=4649 Sun, 11 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0400