John Markum

Category: Series

Sermon Recap: Don’t Look Back, week 1

Posted on by johnmarkum

As we kick off 2025 at Life Valley Church, we begin with a new series entitled, Don’t Look Back. Following Jesus demands a radical reorientation of our lives, centered on three fundamental requirements: self-denial, daily cross-bearing, and wholehearted following. This path directly challenges our culture’s emphasis on self-fulfillment and personal autonomy, calling believers instead to submit every area of life to Christ’s leadership. Just as athletes exercise strict self-control to win their prize, disciples must discipline themselves to follow Jesus faithfully. The call to take up our cross daily represents a complete dying to self, allowing Christ to live through us in every aspect of life. In first century Judaism, it was a common blessing to tell a new follower of a Rabbinical teacher, “May you be covered in the dust of your rabbi!” The idea was that disciples would follow their rabbi so closely that they would be covered in the dust from their teacher’s feet. Similarly, authentic discipleship today should be evident in how closely we walk with Jesus, with our lives clearly reflecting His character and priorities. This requires identifying areas we’re still trying to control, examining what influences are shaping us, and taking concrete steps to submit every aspect of our lives to Christ’s leadership.

Read Luke 9:23-25 for further insight from the sermon…

How do we pursue Jesus in 2025:

  1. Deny yourself.
  2. Take up your cross daily.
  3. Follow Him.

You can find the 5-Day Devotional here.

You can find the entire service on our YouTube channel here.

Blessings,
Pastor John

Sermon Recap: The Last Amen, week 1

Posted on by johnmarkum

In our newest teaching series The Last Amen, we focused on understanding the end times through the lens of Biblical prophecy. Here were the main points of the message in case you missed them:

  1. The arc of human history has always ever been about Jesus.
  2. The only thing matching Jesus’ immense love is His absolute magnificence.
  3. Jesus is returning soon.

Colossians 1:13-17 reveals that all things were created by, through, and for Jesus, emphasizing His central role in all things. Revelation 5:11-14 vividly portrays Jesus’ magnificence, where every creature worships Him, highlighting His sovereignty and majesty. The series also stresses the imminent return of Jesus, supported by scriptures like Matthew 24:30, Acts 1:11, and 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17. The New Testament speaks several times about the return of Christ to gather His church – from Christ Himself, to the recordings of Acts, Paul, and John – the second coming of Jesus is a Biblical inevitability. This urgency calls all of us as believers to live faithfully, share the Gospel, and reflect our faith in our daily actions.

And while “no man knows the day or the hour of the return of the Son of Man” (Matthew 24:36), we have been given signs of the times to be watchful and faithful for the return of our Lord. Many Christians and preachers tend to focus on an end times teaching that is fear-driven, rather than Christ-driven. But Jesus is the “Author and Perfector [completer] of our faith” (Hebrews 12:1-2). He is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. So as we kick off this series, we must remain grounded on Christ as our foundation – not the fears of what will happen in the future.

Practical steps in our message this week include staying diligent in one’s walk with God, sharing the hope of Christ, and living with purpose. Next week, I will guide us deeper into the mysteries of the end times, and the circumstances that the Bible teaches will inaugurate the beginning of the end times. So join us next Sunday, 10am at Life Valley Community Church, San Jose.

If you want to listen to the whole service from Sunday, including our worship time, catch our YouTube channel here. For more about Life Valley Church, check out our website.

Looking to go deeper? Check out the 5-day devotional made from this sermon here.

Monday Recap: UNseries week 3

Posted on by johnmarkum

Yesterday was one of the most emotionally charged messages I’ve ever shared as a pastor, as I walked through Romans 10:11-17, and called us to collective commitment to completing the Great Commission by the 2,000th anniversary of the church around April 2033. You can watch the entire service on our YouTube channel.

The main points to my sermon were:

  1. God saves whoever believes. The Greek word “whoever” and “all” appears some 1,248 times in our New Testament. And it means exactly what it sounds like – everyone. Absolutely everyone can be redeemed in Jesus name, and everyone who calls upon Him will be saved (Rom. 10:11-13). Jesus is contrasted with Adam, the first man, in Romans 5, and the point is made there, that the total, universal implications of Adam’s sin across the human race is “much more” overcome by the “Second Adam” Jesus Christ. If Adam’s sin effects all humanity, then Jesus’ righteousness can absolutely save all of humanity, if we will just turn to Him in faith.
  2. God speaks to whoever listens. God promises to pour His Word upon all the earth, and that it will not return unto Him empty (Isaiah 55:1-11). All creation declares God’s glory (Psalm 19:1-4; Romans 1:18-23), and if we truly listen and seek after God, we will find Him (Jeremiah 29:12-13).
  3. God sends whoever will go. The passage in Romans 10 crescendos at the call to send preachers to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. Here, Paul quotes Isaiah 52:7, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!”

There are an estimated 500 ethnic people groups around the world, and many Christian organizations are tracking our progress in bringing the Gospel to each. To date, it is estimated that there 144 of these people groups who have yet to receive the good news of Jesus Christ. That means that if only 144 people or couples decided they would each commit their lives to taking the life-changing message to one each, we could see the Great Commission fulfilled in our lifetime. We’re that close…

“How then are they to call on Him in whom they have not believed? How are they to believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher? 15 But how are they to preach unless they are sent?” Romans 10:14-15a

Blessings,
Pastor John

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