Temptation does not usually come as open rebellion... It comes as shortcuts, pressure, and compromise!

In Matthew 4, Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness and tempted by the devil. Satan attacks His appetite, His identity, and His worship. Jesus responds the same way every time: “It is written.”

This message exposes why the wilderness is preparation, not punishment, why shortcuts are the enemy’s favorite weapon, and why breakthrough comes when decisions are final. The devil left when Jesus stopped negotiating.

If you’ve been fighting the same cycle, protecting a backup plan, or living halfway surrendered, this message calls you to close the door and make obedience final.

Scripture: Matthew 4:1-11; James 4:7-8
Recorded live at Mountain Valley Chapel, Gold Bar, Washington.

Why would Jesus step into a baptism meant for repentance?

In Matthew 3, John the Baptist is calling people to repentance and warning that judgment is coming. Then Jesus arrives and insists on being baptized, not because He needed cleansing, but to fulfill all righteousness and identify with us in the waters.

This message is a direct call to stop negotiating with God. Obedience is not optional. Delayed obedience is still disobedience. Partial obedience is still rebellion. And the Spirit of God rests on surrender, not compromise.

If you’ve been asking God for more while resisting what He already told you to do, this is your moment to step forward with a new yes.

Scripture: Matthew 3:11-17; James 4:7-8 (ESV)
Recorded live at Mountain Valley Chapel, Gold Bar, Washington.

Pastor Chris Buscher

Stewardship is not about money... It is about trust, vision, and allegiance.

In Matthew 6, Jesus exposes what actually controls the human heart. What we store reveals what we trust. How we see shapes how we live. And no one serves two masters.

This message confronts fear disguised as wisdom, control disguised as responsibility, and self-preservation disguised as maturity. It challenges the Church to stop carrying unnecessary weight and align fully with what God is building.

We are not here to build an empire. We are here to steward what belongs to God and invest in what lasts beyond us.

Scripture: Matthew 6:19-24; Joshua 24:15 (ESV)
Recorded live at Mountain Valley Chapel, Gold Bar, Washington.

For over a century, Kodak dominated photography. They were strong, trusted, and influential. But when the future arrived, they protected what worked yesterday instead of strengthening what remained. They did not reject the future. They delayed it. And delay cost them everything.In Revelation 3, Jesus speaks to a church just like that. Sardis had a name. A reputation. A history. But Christ exposed the truth beneath the surface: “You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains.”This message is not about fear or speculation. Revelation was never written to scare the church. It was written to steady the church. Jesus does not condemn Sardis. He calls them to wake up, repent, and act while there is still time.This sermon confronts spiritual drift, delayed obedience, and comfort that quietly kills urgency. It calls the Church to stop looking backward, strengthen what still lives, and return to first love before collapse comes.Scripture: Revelation 3:1-6; Revelation 2:4-5 (ESV)Location: Mountain Valley Chapel, Gold Bar, Washington

Pastor Chris Buscher#revelation3 #strengthenwhatremains #christiansermon #churchawakening #repentance #endure #faithfulness #refusetosettle #biblestudy #christianteaching

Preached at Mountain Valley Chapel in Gold Bar, Washington on January 4, 2026 by Pastor Chris Buscher.

Every generation faces a moment where staying feels safer than moving, even when staying is slowly destroying them.

This message opens with the true story of Centralia, Pennsylvania, a coal town that did not collapse overnight. A fire started underground in 1962. You could not see it. Life continued. People stayed because it was familiar. 60 years later the town is almost completely abandoned, and the fire is still burning beneath the surface.

Destruction rarely announces itself. Many times it begins with hesitation. Sometimes the greatest danger is not what is in front of us, but what is underneath us. God’s warnings are not threats. They are mercy. And there comes a moment in the walk of faith where God stops explaining and starts commanding movement.

From there, we step into Joshua 1. Moses is dead. Forty years of wandering are over. A new generation is standing on the edge of the Jordan River, staring at a promise they almost missed once already. God does not ask for opinions. He does not take a vote. He gives a command: “Now therefore arise.”

In this message, we walk through three truths that confront settling and call God’s people forward:

1. Lingering in Yesterday Delays Obedience Today
   Honoring the past must never become disobedience in the present. Moses was faithful, but his season was over. Yesterday may feel safe and familiar, but obedience always lives in today. Memory or movement. Comfort or obedience. God makes it clear that the future cannot be reached by lingering in yesterday.

2. Courage Is Commanded Because Fear Is Expected
   God does not wait for fear to leave before He commands obedience. Fear is normal. Fear is expected. But fear does not get a vote. Joshua was not fearless. He was obedient in the middle of fear. Scripture shows us that delaying, compromising, and hesitating disqualify progress far faster than fear ever could.

3. God’s Promises Require Movement, Not Agreement
   The promise was already given, but possession required movement. An entire generation believed in the promise, talked about the promise, and sang about the promise, yet never stepped into it. Promises do not activate by agreement. They activate by obedience. Every place your foot treads. Not every place you agree with God about.

This sermon is a call to Mountain Valley Chapel, and to every believer listening, to refuse to settle between Egypt and the promises of God. We may not always be fearless. We may not always feel ready. But we will be faithful.

The only question that remains is this: will we simply agree with God, or will we move with Him?

Main Scripture: Joshua 1:1-9

Additional Scripture: Hebrews 10:35-39

What happens when God actually shows up and His people beg Him to keep His distance?At Mount Sinai, nearly two million redeemed people encountered the glory of God and backed away in fear. Fire. Thunder. Trembling earth. The voice of the Lord. Instead of drawing near, they asked for a mediator and chose distance over exposure.In this message from 2 Corinthians 3–4, the Apostle Paul explains why the veil existed, what removes it, and how real transformation happens. Growth does not begin with knowledge, gifting, or spiritual experiences. It begins with turning.This sermon confronts a modern church culture that confuses noise with maturity, gifts with growth, and moments with glory. True glory is not hype. It is what remains after the moment fades.If you want real change, endurance, and freedom in the Holy Spirit, this message will challenge you to stop managing distance and start beholding Christ.Scripture: 2 Corinthians 3:16–18; 4:1–2 (ESV)Location: Mountain Valley Chapel, Gold Bar, Washington#repentance #gloryofGod #christiansermon #biblestudy #holyspirit #fromglorytoglory #churchawakening #christianteaching #mountsinai #spiritualgrowth #beholdchrist #endurancefaith

In a world ruled by empires and noise, God moved in silence. From Caesar’s decree to a manger in Bethlehem, this message reveals how God keeps His promises even when heaven feels quiet.

If you’ve been waiting on God, this is for you.

Preached at Mountain Valley Chapel in Gold Bar, Washington on December 7, 2025. Communion service.

Most people have grown up around a tame version of Jesus. Soft. Distant. Gentle and safe. More like a grandfather in the clouds than the holy Creator of Scripture.

This message pulls the mask off that false image and takes you into the garden of Gethsemane in John 18. The same Creator who spoke galaxies into existence, split seas, shut lions mouths, and raised the dead, quietly walks across the brook Kidron on the night He is betrayed.

We watch Him step into the garden where:

• A full Roman detachment arrives with torches, weapons, and armor

• Judas leads an army that thinks it is walking into a war

• The disciples are half asleep and completely unprepared

Then Jesus does what only the real Jesus can do. He steps forward, puts Himself between the soldiers and His followers, and speaks the name that knocks them to the ground. When He says, "I am he," He is not just identifying Himself. He is revealing that the same "I AM" who spoke to Moses is now standing in front of a thousand armed men and choosing to protect His own.

From there, we walk through three movements:

1. The Creator Who Steps Forward and Protects His Own
   Jesus does not hide behind His disciples. He shields them. He demands their release. He refuses to lose even one of those the Father has given Him. The same Jesus who saved their souls also protected their lives. He is still doing it today.

2. The Creator Who Drinks the Cup No One Else Could Carry
   Peter reaches for a sword. Jesus reaches for the cup. This is not a battle that can be won with steel or human strength. The "cup" is not just suffering. It is holy judgment and righteous wrath, the weight of the sin of the world concentrated into one assignment. Only the Lamb of God could drink it. Only the Creator in flesh could survive it.

3. The Creator Who Suffered the Cross for His Creation
   We walk through the stations of the cross: the illegal trials, the beatings, the flogging, the crown of thorns, the long walk to Golgotha, the nails, the suffocating agony. In the middle of it all, Jesus still speaks words of forgiveness, promise, care, lament, completion, and surrender. When He finally yields up His spirit, the veil tears, the earth shakes, tombs open, and even a hardened Roman soldier confesses that He is the Son of God. No one took His life. He gave it.

This sermon leads directly into communion, calling believers to remember not a soft cultural Jesus, but the holy, eternal, all powerful Creator who chose the garden, chose the cup, and chose the cross.

If this message shifts how you see Jesus, share it, leave a rating, and take communion with a fresh awareness of who is actually seated at the right hand of the Father.

Main Scripture: John 18:1–11

Additional Scriptures: 1 Corinthians 11:23–26 & Hebrews 12:2