Vesuvius Baptist Church

09/01/2026

08/31/2026

Do you remember the day God ran? Jesus shares the story of a wayward and lost son who decides to make the long journey from a far-off country back to his father's house. Jesus describes the reception of the father in this way:

“And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.” — Luke 15:20 (NKJV)

Listen to this song and ask yourself: "Have I allowed myself to fall into the loving arms of my Father in heaven? Have I turned from my sins and come home into the Father's embrace?"

If not, come home! The Father took the initiative through the Son, demonstrating His love for you by dying on the cross while you were yet a sinner (Romans 5:8–11). Let this be the day that God runs to you!

https://youtu.be/_w7dgBxHaxM?is=h5isCg_CYpvh4oiM

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from the 2005 DVD. http://www.amazon.com/Phillips-Craig-Dean-Steve-...

08/31/2026

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08/28/2026

"There is great joy in heaven when one sinner repents." (Luke 15:10)

What is joy? While emotional happiness is part of experiencing joy, it is not the primary way to define it. Joy, above all, is relational. Joy is the experience of belonging and being loved. It is enjoying belonging and experiencing loving attachment to others. It is the feeling of satisfaction when looking at family photos, or what washes over you when the whole family is gathered around the Christmas tree.
All heaven rejoices when one sinner, separated by sin, repents and comes home to the Father's embrace! The Heavenly Father runs with joy in His hear to the sinner coming home! (Luke 15:20) You are beloved by the Father and belong in His embrace. The sinner is now a son; the daughter is no longer dead.
In The Pleasures of God, John Piper states:
"God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him."

Piper believes that being enjoyed by the Father and enjoying the Father's embrace are central purposes of our salvation and obligations of every Christian.

Glorifying God Through Joy: Piper teaches that God is not glorified when people obey Him out of mere duty or cold obligation. Just as a spouse is not honored if their partner stays with them strictly out of duty, God is most glorified when His people find their ultimate satisfaction, pleasure, and treasure in who He is. Living out your Christian faith out of obligation does not fulfill our duty to find out greatest joy in loving and pleasing God.

The Pursuit of Joy as a Command: Seeking supreme happiness in God is a required act of worship, not a minor preference, according to Piper. The Bible commands us to "rejoice in the Lord" (e.g., Psalm 37:4; Philippians 4:4). Psalm 16:11 states, “You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

Pursuing the Pleasures of God: Drawing from C.S. Lewis, Piper emphasizes that humanity's trouble does not stem from cultivating earthly desires such as money, power, or comfort, but from passionately pursue the pleasures of God (Psalm 16:11). We cannot pursue the pleasures of God and delight in sin at the same time.
Saving Faith as Savoring: To Piper, true saving faith is not merely believing facts about Jesus, but treasuring Him above all else, seeing Him as supremely desirable and satisfying.

See You Sunday,
Pastor John

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08/24/2026

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08/22/2026

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08/21/2026

Here’s my last thought on Jesus’s parable of the treasure in the field. Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field” (Matthew 13:44). As we’ve turned this diamond of a parable around in our minds, we have seen that Jesus can be the farmer who, “for the joy set before him” (Hebrews 12:2), paid it all on the cross to buy us back with His blood (Acts 20:28; Colossians 1:13–14).
We are the treasure in the field that Jesus purchases and lifts up into His arms. I believe Paul picks up this theme when he told the Corinthian church, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us” (2 Corinthians 4:7). In redemption, Jesus takes the cracked pot that we are out of the dirt, lifts us into His arms, and begins joyously distributing the treasure deposited within us by the indwelling Holy Spirit. We are not the dirt in the field or even a beautiful vessel attracting the attention of others. We are just crusty ole cracked pots.
However, we are so valuable to Jesus that He purchased us with His precious blood to become His most precious possession. We are not our best day at work or in front of the mirror; we are cracked pots in the hand of Jesus, His most treasured possession.
Now, once in His hands, Jesus will begin distributing the treasure you are for the glory of God and the good of the gospel. If you stay in His hands, in God’s sovereign grace, He will advance His kingdom by dipping His hands into the treasure within you. He will use your personality, time, energy, and resources to seek and save the lost. You were saved for the glory of God and remain on this earth for the good of others.
Here’s what I believe: when Jesus dips His hands in and takes the last jewel from your clay pot, and there is no more to give, you will breathe your last breath, leave that clay pot behind, and be present with Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:8). If you are still breathing, God’s not done working in you and through you to reach others with His love. So stay in His hands, rejoice in being held, and let Jesus do His work in and through you!

See you Sunday!
Pastor John

08/20/2026

“Never get over being saved!” That’s what my good friend and partner in the gospel, Dr. J. Michael Palmer, said years ago, and I’ll never forget it.
Paul commanded us, “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!... The Lord is at hand” (Phil. 4:4–5). This is hard to do! Right now, it’s a little after 6:00 in the morning. I’ve come back from walking the dog on a beautiful summer morning, with the sun breaking the eastern horizon. The birds are singing, “Oh, what a beautiful mornin’, Oh, what a beautiful day. I got a beautiful feelin’, ev’rything’s goin’ my way!” My dog’s tail is wagging, and life is good!
Then, as morning turns to day, life happens! We feel the burdens of overwhelming expectation & the weight of our unrelenting worries take over & win the day. How can we hold on to the joy of our salvation in a world that is so weighted with heartache, pain, and suffering?

Here are two handles so that you can hold unto joy throughout the rest of your day:
1. Recognize that joy is relational.
Joy is grounded & founded on enjoying relationships with others. Jesus went to the cross to bring us back into relationship with God our Father (John 5:24). Because of Christ has done, nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus the Lord! (Rom. 8:28–39) Joy is experiencing the deep sense of attachment and belonging. Joy is enjoying beloved family and friends…and being enjoyed by them.
The Bible says Jesus experienced joy when He died on the Cross… Jesus, “for the joy set before Him, endured the cross” (Heb. 12:2) How is that possible? Joy is relational. Jesus was thinking about saving you and bring you back to God with his substitutionary sacrifice. He experienced joy because you were on His mind when He was on the cross. Jesus finds great joy in lifting you out of sin and holding you in the arms of salvation. He treasures you (Matt. 13:44)! When you come home to Jesus—when you repent and receive eternal life in Christ—the Father runs toward you with open arms! (Luke 15:20). There is great joy in heaven when one sinner repents (Luke 15:10).

2. The Joy of the Father’s Eternal Embraced
Joy wins in the end. There’s another reason I am experiencing joy this morning. Fonda, my lovely bride, is flying home today! No matter what comes my way, I will experience the embrace of my wife at the end of the day.
The joy of the Lord can be our strength (Neh. 8:10), because we can be held and embraced in the arms of grace at any moment of the day. Never get over being saved, because Jesus is coming back! Listen to what Jesus does for you:
“For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.” - Colossians 3:3–4 (NKJV)
Christ hides us in heaven and cannot imagine eternity without you. So, when He returns, who we truly are in Christ will finally be revealed, and we will be with Jesus forever in glory. We are the most treasured possession of our Father in heaven, so don’t you ever get over being saved!

3. The Joy of Embracing Eternal Hope
Finally, not only does the Father treasure & eternally embrace us, but we embrace “a better and an enduring possession” that will not falter or fade. The preacher said this to the Hebrew believers:
“for you had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven.” - Hebrews 10:34 (NKJV)
These faithful believers were bringing food and provisions to Christians in jail. As a result, they were identified as Christian sympathizers and suffered the same reproach as those in prison. Imagine a mob ransacking your home, violating your private space, and taking all you’ve worked hard to accumulate. That’s how the Hebrew believers charity was rewarded.
Listen to what God says about the joy the Hebrew believers experienced: “you…joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven.” (Heb 10:34) As Jim Elliot, the martyred missionary to Ecuador, once said, “He is no fool who loses what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
If you possess eternal life in Christ Jesus, you have a living and eternal hope! Jesus is alive and seated at the right hand of God. Jesus is coming back so that we can be with Him in His eternal reign.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you.” -1 Peter 1:3–4 (NKJV)
There it is! No matter what comes your way today, live in the joy of your salvation. Rejoice in the Lord! Again, I say, rejoice! The Lord is at hand!

Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus!
Pastor John

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08/19/2026

Here's another point I did not explore in my Sunday morning message. In Matthew 13:44, Jesus told this parable:
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” (NKJV)
Did you notice the repeated word? The “treasure hidden in a field” was “found and hid” again! Repeated words emphasize what is important. What’s so important about hiding?
If we see this parable through the eyes of redemption, Jesus is the farmer who paid the price to redeem us from sin (Acts 20:28; Rev. 5:9). We, the redeemed people of God, are the treasure in the field that was once buried in our sin, and Jesus redeems the whole lot of us to find the treasure. Jesus lifts us up from our sin into salvation and eternal life.

So why does the farmer hide that which He found? Two reasons...
1) “THOU ART MY HIDING PLACE”: The farmer wanted to secure his new possession from being stolen by thieves.
Jesus said Satan is a thief who comes “to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10). Listen to the comforting words of Psalm 32:7-
“You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance.”
What comfort to know Jesus is your Hiding Place! Jesus hides us from the enemy to protect and watch over us! The Lord is thy Keeper! (Ps. 121:5) God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. (Psalm 46:1) He is our secure Hiding Place. What time you are afraid, you can trust in Him. (Ps. 56:3).

2) “HIDDEN WITH CHRIST IN GOD”: The farmer hid the present treasure to secure a future investment.
If we receive Christ by faith, we are like the treasure lifted & rescued from the filth of our sin... God's wrath for our sin is put to death & extinguished & our sins are forgiven. And then, just as Christ was raised from death to eternal life, we too are born from above (John 3:3; Eph. 2:1-7; 2 Cor. 5:17) & we become heaven-born children of God (Jn. 1:12; Jn. 3:1)!
Now, our lives are “hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.” (Colossians 3:3–4) Jesus hides you because the Father in Heaven does NOT want to spend eternity without you!!!
The Father has reserved a place for you with Him in heaven!!! You are now "in Christ" and "with Christ"... Where Christ goes, we go!
Even though we still live in the dirt of this physical, hell-bent world, our lives are “hidden with Christ in God.” Even though we are surrounded & even influenced by sin, in Christ, there is “no condemnation.” In Christ, nothing can “separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom. 8:1, 38-39).
Jesus, our Good Shepherd, said it this way, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone sn**ch them out of My hand.” (John 10:28).
The Heavenly Father does NOT want to spend eternity without you!
If you do not have assurance of eternal life, it only comes as you receive the gift of eternal life by faith in what Christ has done. Come to Jesus today and trust in Christ.
If you have received Christ through faith, hear God’s heart for you in Christ:
"Even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. - Ephesians 2:5–7 (NKJV)

Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus!
Pastor John

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08/18/2026

Words from your Pastor, John Hamric

This may be hard to believe, but preachers don’t say everything they want to during a Sunday sermon! I'd like to share a few extra things with you that I could not share this Sunday.

In Matthew 13:44, the verse I preached on Sunday, Jesus says, "Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a hidden treasure in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field."

We turned the diamond of this revelation of heaven from Jesus around in our hands to see that our Father in heaven finds such great joy in seeking and saving us. Even though we may be a dirt field full of rocks and roots, Jesus loves us so deeply that He looks past all the dirt in our field and goes straight to the treasure that we are. Jesus purchased us. He redeemed us, not with gold or silver, but with the precious blood of the Lamb! (1 Peter 1:18–19, Acts 20:28).

As the old chorus says, "Love lifted me! Love lifted me! When nothing else could help, Love lifted me!" This is the glorious message of God's grace for sinners such as you and me! We are not defined by the dirt and the rocks, the failures and the mistakes that so often clutter our lives. Jesus treasures our hearts and lifts us out of the miry clay. He lifts us up, holds us in His embrace, and says, "There you are! I find such joy in holding you. You are My treasured possession!"

It's not that our lives aren't full of dirt. We are very sinful and rebellious creatures. "All have sinned and fall short" (Romans 3:23), and "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). There's plenty of dirt in all of our lives to dig up! And God takes our sin very seriously. That's the reason God sent His Son to die on the cross for our sins.

However, in Christ Jesus, the believer is no longer defined by their darkest fears and deepest failures. In Christ, the Father has "delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of His dear Son, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins" (Colossians 1:13–14).

So enjoy being saved! Rejoice in the Lord! Again I say, rejoice! The Lord has you in His hands and embraces you. Sing a song of praise. Shout Hallelujah!

Embrace the joy that embraces you.

“Take heart! You are far worse than you think but far more loved than you ever dared hope” - Jack Miller