Timeless Truth with Pastor Jim Thomas

The Village Chapel - Nashville, TN
  • 4.9 (31)
  • Christianity
  • Semiweekly

Join us for Timeless Truth with Pastor Jim Thomas. Each episode is a verse-by-verse study from the Bible—unique in its source, timeless in its truth, broad in its reach and transforming in its power. This podcast is a resource of The Village Chapel in Nashville, TN.

  1. 5d ago

    Sowing and Reaping | Galatians 6:6–18 | Timeless Truth with Pastor Jim Thomas

    Fourteen episodes. One letter. One gospel. One grace-based freedom. This is the series finale — and Paul closes his letter exactly where the gospel always ends: at the cross. Before he gets there, he gives us one of the most practical images in the whole letter: farming. Whatever you sow, you reap. It sounds simple and in many ways, it is simple. And yet it changes everything about how we think about the daily, ordinary choices of a life being shaped by grace. Key Passage: Galatians 6:6–18 (NASB) Four questions we ask: What holds us back? The gap between believing the gospel and actually living life because it's true. We want transformation faster than it comes. And when it isn't fast enough, we either slide backwards into religious rule following or, we start posing and pretending again. How has Christ set us free? Small gospel seeds — planted quietly, nurtured faithfully — produce what no single dramatic effort ever could. "Holiness is a harvest; whether we reap it or not depends almost entirely on what and where we sow." (John Stott). And Paul's final boast: not in himself, not in his record — only in the cross. The letter that began with "no other gospel" ends at the cross. Not just an improved self. A new creation. Where can we stand? The foot of the cross is the only ground that matters. All the ground is level there. It’s not about our consistency, our spiritual track record, our comparison to anyone else. Just the finished work of Christ on the cross — and the new creation Christ has made of us. How should we walk? Take an honest look at what you're sowing towards — your thought life, your online habits, your relationships, your prayer life, your engagement with Scripture. Consider one intentional act of sowing to the Spirit this week. One gospel seed of faith and trust. Quote to carry with you: "The whole of Christ, in His adorable character as the Son of God, is by Himself made over to us most richly to enjoy. His wisdom is our direction, His knowledge our instruction, His power our protection, His justice our surety, His love our comfort, His mercy our solace, and His immutability our trust." — Charles Spurgeon, Morning and Evening Something to think about: What are you sowing to? And what harvest are you expecting from it? That's a wrap on Timeless Truth: Galatians. Fourteen episodes. The same gospel Paul defended two thousand years ago — and it's still the only freedom worth having. If this series has encouraged you, share it with someone who needs it. The cage door is open. Support the show Connect With Us: Biblical Resources: Browse our 25-year study archive of sermons, podcasts, studies, worship resources and more: thevillagechapel.com/resourcesVisit Us: Join us in person in Nashville: thevillagechapel.com/visitRequest Prayer: We would love to pray for you: thevillagechapel.com/prayerSupport The Mission: Your support enables us to share the Gospel in Nashville and beyond: thevillagechapel.com/giveThe Village Chapel exists to glorify God through the teaching of His word, through heartfelt worship, and by connecting people with opportunities to live lives of real significance, serving God and their neighbors as a local community of faith.

  2. Oct 27

    Gospel Relationships | Galatians 5:26–6:5 | Timeless Truth with Pastor Jim Thomas

    The gospel doesn't just change individuals. It changes communities too. In this episode, Paul turns from the fruit of the Spirit to something just as practical: what does gospel freedom actually look like inside relationships in a church? He names the poisons first — conceit, comparison, envy — and he doesn't flinch. These aren't outsider problems. They're inside-the-church problems. And they produce a sick loneliness that's especially painful because it happens in the one place designed to be a refuge of unity and redemption. But the same gospel that diagnoses the problem also holds the cure. Key Passage: Galatians 5:26–6:5 (NASB) Four questions we ask: What holds us back? The exhausting work of propping up a projected image — the comparison thinking, the concealment of struggle, the anxiety over what others have. It produces isolation inside community. How has Christ set us free? The gospel has already settled whether we are sinful and whether we are loved. We're not competing for approval we already have in Christ. That frees us to do something remarkable: bear one another's burdens. What Tim Keller has memorably called "the freedom of self-forgetfulness" — hands free to help carry someone else's burden because the weight of your own burdens has been lifted. Where can we stand? The church was designed to be the one place where all masks can come off — not because everyone is perfectly trustworthy, but because Jesus is. The gospel says our standing before God doesn't depend on our performance. Church community should be less like a moral museum of the well-behaved and more like hospital for the hurting. How should we walk? When someone is caught in sin, move toward them in love rather than away from them in disgust. With a spirit of gentleness, not anger. Our goal is never to scold and shame — it's to point toward the Jesus who is eager to rescue, redeem and restore. And remember: it could easily have been us. Quote to carry with you: "Grace has the power to do what nothing else can do — rescue you from you, and in so doing, restore you to what you were created to be." — Paul Tripp, New Morning Mercies Something to think about: Where in your relationships are you still managing impressions rather than bearing burdens? What would it look like to take the mask off this week? Support the show Connect With Us: Biblical Resources: Browse our 25-year study archive of sermons, podcasts, studies, worship resources and more: thevillagechapel.com/resourcesVisit Us: Join us in person in Nashville: thevillagechapel.com/visitRequest Prayer: We would love to pray for you: thevillagechapel.com/prayerSupport The Mission: Your support enables us to share the Gospel in Nashville and beyond: thevillagechapel.com/giveThe Village Chapel exists to glorify God through the teaching of His word, through heartfelt worship, and by connecting people with opportunities to live lives of real significance, serving God and their neighbors as a local community of faith.

  3. Oct 23

    Gospel Character | Galatians 5:16–25 | Timeless Truth with Pastor Jim Thomas

    Freedom isn't just a legal standing. It shows up in real life. In this episode, we dig into one of the best-known — and most misunderstood — passages in the New Testament: Paul's teaching on the fruit of the Spirit. Nine varieties. All of them Spirit-produced. None of them self-generated. This is what gospel freedom looks like when it starts shaping your character from the inside out. Key Passage: Galatians 5:16–25 (NASB) Four questions we ask: What holds us back? Two things: bad teaching and muddled thinking. Legalism on one side, "anything goes" on the other. Trying harder couldn’t be harder. And a religion of behavior modification just gives us more things to try harder at. The deeds of the flesh need no cultivation — they grow frustration all on their own.How has Christ set us free? Jesus has given us the Holy Spirit — to convict us of sin, convince us of truth, and conform us into the image of Christ. The fruit of the Spirit isn't the requirement of salvation; it's the result of salvation. We don't get our act together and then surrender to God. We surrender to God, and then He transforms us from the inside out. Spirit-produced. Spirit-sown. Spirit-grown.Where can we stand? Sanctification isn't a self-improvement project you're winning or losing. It's the Spirit sowing seed and growing fruit that only the Spirit can produce. Our job is to follow, not lead. To walk, not strain. And as other Bible teachers have noted — every one of these nine fruits can be seen in their fullness in the life of Jesus Christ himself. That way, when they begin to show up in our lives, all the glory goes to God.How should we walk? The Holy Spirit is mentioned 16 times in Galatians — a signal of how central the Spirit is to Paul's vision of a fruitful life. Three phrases in this passage describe how we respond: walk by the Spirit (v. 16), led by the Spirit (v. 18), live by the Spirit (v. 25). The Spirit is not just resident in our hearts — He’s the president. Stop asking "how do I become more loving or joyful?" and start asking: "What would it look like to surrender more to the Spirit in this area of my life?" It's a small shift in posture and perspective — but it changes everything.The nine fruit of the Spirit: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Something to think about: The 19th century missionary to China, James  Hudson Taylor once put it this way: “The branch of the vine does not worry, and toil, and rush here to seek for sunshine, and there to find rain. No; it rests in union and communion with the vine; and at the right time, and in the right way, is the right fruit found on it. Let us so abide in the Lord Jesus.” That’s exactly what Paul is saying here. Gospel character isn’t primarily about what you stop doing. It’s about abiding in Christ, walking by the Spirit — and the fruit of the Spirit begins to emerge in us.  Where in your life is the Spirit inviting you to walk more closely to Jesus — not by trying harder, but by opening your hands to receive more of what only He can give? Support the show Connect With Us: Biblical Resources: Browse our 25-year study archive of sermons, podcasts, studies, worship resources and more: thevillagechapel.com/resourcesVisit Us: Join us in person in Nashville: thevillagechapel.com/visitRequest Prayer: We would love to pray for you: thevillagechapel.com/prayerSupport The Mission: Your support enables us to share the Gospel in Nashville and beyond: thevillagechapel.com/giveThe Village Chapel exists to glorify God through the teaching of His word, through heartfelt worship, and by connecting people with opportunities to live lives of real significance, serving God and their neighbors as a local community of faith.

  4. Oct 20

    Gospel Freedom | Galatians 5:1–15 | Timeless Truth with Pastor Jim Thomas

    We've arrived at the key verse of the entire letter. One sentence. Nine words. And in those nine words, Paul captures everything Galatians has been building toward: "It was for freedom that Christ set us free." — Galatians 5:1 That's the hinge. That's the declaration. And it's followed immediately by an invitation — because Christ didn't just set you free from something, He set you free for something. In this episode, we look at the two kinds of invisible chains that enslave people — and what it means to stand in the freedom the Christian Gospel offers. Key Passage: Galatians 5:1–15 (NASB) Four questions we ask: What holds us back? Two kinds of chains, and both can feel like freedom — until they don't. The chains of religious performance (your standing with God fluctuates with how your devotions have been going). And the chains of self-indulgence (answering to nobody, following your appetites, calling it freedom — while drifting toward ruin).How has Christ set us free? The declaration is past tense: “Christ set us free.” Done. Accomplished. Not a goal you're working toward — a reality you've been placed into. And it's freedom for love, freedom for others, freedom that runs upward towards God and outward towards others, rather than curling inward on the self.Where can we stand? On the ground Christ has already won. Paul's warning is fierce: don't add anything to the gospel. Not circumcision. Not religious rule following. Not anything. There is no such thing as a minor addition to God’s grace.How should we walk? Ask the honest question Paul is asking: Am I living free — or am I walking around in chains? Gospel freedom looks like this: you are right now, fully loved by God on the basis of what Christ has done. And from that place of being loved, you're learning to love God back and to love the people all around you. That's what walking in true freedom actually looks like. Key verse to carry with you: "For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another." — Galatians 5:13 Something to think about: Which chains are more familiar to you — the performance chains or the self-indulgence chains? What would it look like to stand in Gospel freedom this week instead? Support the show Connect With Us: Biblical Resources: Browse our 25-year study archive of sermons, podcasts, studies, worship resources and more: thevillagechapel.com/resourcesVisit Us: Join us in person in Nashville: thevillagechapel.com/visitRequest Prayer: We would love to pray for you: thevillagechapel.com/prayerSupport The Mission: Your support enables us to share the Gospel in Nashville and beyond: thevillagechapel.com/giveThe Village Chapel exists to glorify God through the teaching of His word, through heartfelt worship, and by connecting people with opportunities to live lives of real significance, serving God and their neighbors as a local community of faith.

  5. Oct 16

    Born of the Spirit | Galatians 4:21-31 | Timeless Truth with Pastor Jim Thomas

    Sometimes the best way to understand where you're going is to look at where you've been. In this episode, we land in one of the most surprising passages in Galatians — Paul's reading of the story of Hagar and Sarah, Ishmael and Isaac. It's a real story. But Paul shows us there's also a deeper pattern woven into it by God — a picture of two ways to live: one by human effort and obligation, the other by divine promise and grace. The difference between these two ways of living isn't always visible on the outside. But it's exhausting on the inside. One is the life of the slave; the other is the life of the son or daughter. Key Passage: Galatians 4:21–31 (NASB) Four questions we ask: What holds us back? The impulse to take the promise into our own hands — to help God along, to produce by effort what only grace can give.How has Christ set us free? God keeps His word even when it seems impossible. What happened in Sarah's womb was pure miracle — and so is what happens in us when the Spirit works.Where can we stand? In Galatians 4:28, Paul makes it personal: "You, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise." Not children of obligation. Not children of performance. Children of promise.How should we walk? The child of promise doesn't live under the taskmaster's eye. We live in the freedom God's grace has already secured.Something to think about: Are you living as a slave to obligation — never measuring up, always falling short, exhausted by trying harder? Or are you living as a child of promise — resting in what God has already done through the finished work of Christ? "The Bible doesn't just tell us what to hope for. It tells us that our hope is well-founded — because the God who makes promises is the God who keeps them." Carolyn Nystrom Support the show Connect With Us: Biblical Resources: Browse our 25-year study archive of sermons, podcasts, studies, worship resources and more: thevillagechapel.com/resourcesVisit Us: Join us in person in Nashville: thevillagechapel.com/visitRequest Prayer: We would love to pray for you: thevillagechapel.com/prayerSupport The Mission: Your support enables us to share the Gospel in Nashville and beyond: thevillagechapel.com/giveThe Village Chapel exists to glorify God through the teaching of His word, through heartfelt worship, and by connecting people with opportunities to live lives of real significance, serving God and their neighbors as a local community of faith.

  6. Oct 13

    Known by God | Galatians 4:8–20 | Timeless Truth with Pastor Jim Thomas

    What would change if you stopped trying to prove yourself to God — and started just talking to him? In one of the most personal, emotionally exposed passages Paul ever wrote, we watch a pastor grieve over people he loves who are walking back into a cage they already escaped. What Holds Us Back: The fear of being truly known — we curate even our prayer lives, showing God our best self and hoping he doesn't look too closely at the rest. That fear doesn't just make us guarded; it makes us reach for rules. The Galatians, already rescued, were rebuilding a religious calendar (v.10) as a way of managing their standing with God — what Paul calls "weak and worthless elemental things." When you're not sure you're fully known and loved, you go looking for something to doabout it. It feels like devotion. Paul calls it slavery — the very thing they were freed from. How Christ Sets Us Free: "Now that you are known by God" (v.9) — not "now that you know God." The initiative runs from him to us; the knowing came first, and the loving didn't wait. Paul then gets personal (vv.12–15), recalling how the Galatians once received him — sick and weak — "as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus Himself," loving him raw and unfiltered. That's the gospel in miniature. Which makes verse 16 land hard: "So have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?" Freedom, in a pastor's heart, costs something. "The identity of those known by God as his children carries with it a distinctive lifestyle. Indeed, a frequent strategy for moral transformation in the Bible is the call to live in accordance with our new identity in Christ. The defining moment of our lives took place two thousand years ago when we died and rose to new life in union with Christ." — Brian S. Rosner, Known by God Where We Can Stand: You are fully known and fully loved — in that order. There is no version of you God is yet to discover, and nothing you could show him would change what he already knows or has already done about it. In verse 19, Paul calls the Galatians "my children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you" — the language of a man whose love is costing him something real, because he refuses to let them go. "To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God. It is what we need more than anything. It liberates us from pretense, humbles us out of our self-righteousness, and fortifies us for any difficulty life can throw at us." — Timothy Keller, The Meaning of Marriage How We Should Walk: Stop curating your prayer life. Talk to God as someone who already knows everything and loves you anyway — no performance, no best-foot-forward. And don't hear this passage as a call to want less: verse 18 says "it is good always to be eagerly sought in a commendable manner." Zeal isn't the problem — misdirected zeal is. Point that same energy — your devotion, your desire to be pursued and to pursue — toward the God who has already known and already loved you. "God fixes our prayers on the way up. If He does not answer the prayer we made, He will answer the prayer we should have made. This is all anyone needs to know." — J. I. Packer and Carolyn Nystrom, Praying Support the show Connect With Us: Biblical Resources: Browse our 25-year study archive of sermons, podcasts, studies, worship resources and more: thevillagechapel.com/resourcesVisit Us: Join us in person in Nashville: thevillagechapel.com/visitRequest Prayer: We would love to pray for you: thevillagechapel.com/prayerSupport The Mission: Your support enables us to share the Gospel in Nashville and beyond: thevillagechapel.com/giveThe Village Chapel exists to glorify God through the teaching of His word, through heartfelt worship, and by connecting people with opportunities to live lives of real significance, serving God and their neighbors as a local community of faith.

  7. Oct 9

    True Children of God | Galatians 3:26–4:7 | Timeless Truth with Pastor Jim Thomas

    If you belong to Christ, you're not merely forgiven — you're a true child of God. A true son or daughter, a true heir, with nothing missing and nothing lacking. This episode unpacks Paul's boldest identity claim yet in Galatians. What Holds Us Back: The Galatians were tempted to think their standing before God depended on bloodline, law-keeping, or being the "right kind" of person. Paul exposes that as a fraud: even a true heir, while still a child under guardians, "does not differ at all from a slave" (v.1-3) — status without relationship, ownership without access. The same lie holds us back today: the idea that our identity is something we must create or achieve, rather than a gift received. How Christ Sets Us Free: "When the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law" (v.4) — so that He might redeem those under the Law, "that we might receive the adoption as sons" (v.5). Redemption clears the debt. Adoption changes the family name. Christ's freedom isn't only freedom from something — it's freedom for a new identity. Where We Can Stand: "You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus" (v.26) — not "you may become," but "you are." And no distinction of Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female changes that standing (v.28). Whatever divided you before, in Christ it carries no weight in determining who belongs to God's family. Verse 6 seals it: "God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!'" A true child doesn't just have the legal paperwork — a true child has the Spirit of the Son testifying from the inside that they belong. "Adoption is the highest privilege of the gospel. The traitor is forgiven, brought in for supper, and given the family name. To be right with God the Judge is a great thing, but to be loved and cared for by God the Father is greater." — J. I. Packer, Knowing God How We Should Walk: Three things follow if you are a true child of God: 1. You stop auditioning for a place you already have. The proving was done at the cross. 2. The distinctions the world uses to rank people lose their grip on you. Christian is a noun, not an adjective. 3. You pray like a true child, not a servant hoping to be noticed. You have the privilege of calling the God of the universe "Abba, Father." Support the show Connect With Us: Biblical Resources: Browse our 25-year study archive of sermons, podcasts, studies, worship resources and more: thevillagechapel.com/resourcesVisit Us: Join us in person in Nashville: thevillagechapel.com/visitRequest Prayer: We would love to pray for you: thevillagechapel.com/prayerSupport The Mission: Your support enables us to share the Gospel in Nashville and beyond: thevillagechapel.com/giveThe Village Chapel exists to glorify God through the teaching of His word, through heartfelt worship, and by connecting people with opportunities to live lives of real significance, serving God and their neighbors as a local community of faith.

  8. Oct 6

    The Purpose of God's Law | Galatians 3:15–25 | Timeless Truth with Pastor Jim Thomas

    Paul holds up the Law of God and the promises of God side by side throughout Galatians 3, letting us see what each was actually built to do. This episode asks the question underneath the whole chapter: what was the Law for, if it was never meant to save us? What Holds Us Back: The Law is like a compass or a thermometer — both are diagnostic instruments, not curative ones. A compass doesn't create true north or carry you there; it just shows you when you've drifted. A thermometer doesn't cure a fever; it tells you one exists. Religious legalism is trying to climb the compass like a stairway to heaven, or swallowing the thermometer hoping the fever will go away. The opposite error — dismissing God's Law altogether — is just as destructive; true freedom was never "anything goes." The Law is good precisely because it's diagnostic. The cure is grace, found in the person and work of Christ. How Christ Sets Us Free: No one is justified by the Law (3:11) — no one keeps it in full. The Law says "Do this and live"; the promise says "Christ has done it all — believe in Him." The Law was never meant to replace the promise; it serves it. This is the great exchange of 2 Corinthians 5:21 — Christ took on our sin on the cross, and robes us in His righteousness in return. Where We Can Stand: "Now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor" (3:25). The Law did its job — it brought us to the end of ourselves and to the beginning of Christ. That's not failure; that was the plan. Our confidence isn't in our observance of the Law, but in Christ alone. My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus' blood and righteousness; I dare not trust the sweetest frame, But wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground is sinking sand. — Edward Mote, "My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less" (1834) How We Should Walk: Where are you still using the Law as a ladder to climb rather than a thermometer to read? This week, dwell on what Christ has already done — his faithfulness in your past, his strength for your present, his hope for your future — rather than on your own religious performance. Support the show Connect With Us: Biblical Resources: Browse our 25-year study archive of sermons, podcasts, studies, worship resources and more: thevillagechapel.com/resourcesVisit Us: Join us in person in Nashville: thevillagechapel.com/visitRequest Prayer: We would love to pray for you: thevillagechapel.com/prayerSupport The Mission: Your support enables us to share the Gospel in Nashville and beyond: thevillagechapel.com/giveThe Village Chapel exists to glorify God through the teaching of His word, through heartfelt worship, and by connecting people with opportunities to live lives of real significance, serving God and their neighbors as a local community of faith.

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Join us for Timeless Truth with Pastor Jim Thomas. Each episode is a verse-by-verse study from the Bible—unique in its source, timeless in its truth, broad in its reach and transforming in its power. This podcast is a resource of The Village Chapel in Nashville, TN.

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