Trey VanCamp Teachings Podcast

Instead of rushing past the familiar line “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” we’re invited to slow down and receive it not just as a doctrinal statement, but as a personal proposal from the Groom to His Bride. Don’t pass over the Passover, don’t pass over the proposal, and above all—don’t pass over the Person of Jesus.

Prayer is so important because it allows us to delight in God’s presence, discern His heart, and depend on His power. But prayer is so powerful because it actually directs God’s hand. When we pray, prayer moves our heart and will to align with God’s heart and will. But it also moves God’s hand to directly interfere into the affairs of humanity. And yet few of us actually believe this. Some of us fall into the trap of fatalism, falsely believing God has already set the future and our prayers won’t actually change anything. Others of us fall...

In the middle of teaching on prayer, Jesus tells us to ask, “Give us today our daily bread,” “forgive our sins,” and “deliver us from the evil one” (Matthew 6:11–13). These requests span a spectrum: from the mundane, to the messy, to the monumental. Daily bread reflects ordinary needs we often overlook—food for the day, a safe commute, help with our to-do list. “Forgive our sins” gets messy, confronting our failures and the challenge of forgiving others. “Deliver us” points to overwhelming needs—healing from deep wounds, restored relationships, freedom from bondage. Yet Jesus makes no distinction. Bread, forgiveness, deliverance—all are gifts from a generou...

If the goal of prayer is to delight in God’s presence and develop deeper communion with Him, few of us want to settle for a one-sided relationship. At some point in our prayer journey, we’ll want to actually hear from Him. This is what Scripture calls discernment. And while prayer is about delighting in our personal relationship with God by sharing our hearts with Him, it’s also about learning His heart for us and for those around us. When we pray to discern God’s heart, we’re asking to know God’s will. But we’re also asking th...

It’s pretty significant that the one time we’re told the disciples ask Jesus to teach them something, they say, “Teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1). After everything they saw Jesus doing—preaching, performing miracles, healing, casting out demons—what caught their attention was the devotion and commitment Jesus seemed to have when it came to prayer. When Jesus answered his disciples’ request, the first thing He told them to do was address God as a Father. “Our Father in heaven…” as the prayer goes. Many of us know it by heart, but this was a radical move on Jesus’ part. In a culture ful...

On Easter Sunday we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. By rising from the dead and walking out of the grave, Jesus defeated the three main enemies of humanity: sin, Satan, and death. It’s good news for all of us, but only if we’re willing to accept it. In Matthew 11, Jesus responds with judgement towards those who consistently reject Him and His miracles. But by the end of the chapter, Jesus extends an invitation for those willing to repent. By laying down our pride and putting our hope in Jesus, we find Him gentle, lowly, and willing to give us r

Fickleness might not be one of the seven historically recognized deadly sins, but it is prevalent in our community and it is deadly. All of us shy away from difficult conversations, give up at the first sign of discomfort, and loosen our commitments when we’re inconvenienced. But in the Garden of Gethsemane, just before his crucifixion, Jesus models what faithfulness looks like. By bringing our pain, fears, and discomfort to God in honest prayer, we allow him to hear us and align our hearts with his will. This is how we allow the Spirit to bear the fruit of fa...

Of all the deadly sins, envy is one of the most damaging and undetectable. We casually look down on those who are more successful than us, we ignore the bitterness that takes root in our hearts towards others, and we slowly begin to see the people God has called us to live in community with as enemies rather than family members. But as dangerous and elusive as envy is, the gospel gives us a way out. In James 3, James gives practical instructions to those struggling with envy: “if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your heart, don’t boas...

Most of us probably wouldn’t consider ourselves “gluttons.” But when we look at how we spend our free time, how we respond to boredom or hardship, or what we do for “rest,” we likely find ourselves giving into excess and impulse. By definition, this is gluttony: consumption without contentment. To find happiness or satisfaction, we often chase cheap impulses, or what some call “pseudo-joys.” But this problem isn’t new. Jesus calls it out when the crowds followed him after they ate the five thousand loaves and fish that he gave them. “Truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not becaus...

At the top of the list of the Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5 is love. But as simple and cliché as it sounds, love is one of the most difficult fruits to embody. And what most often prevents us from loving others well is greed. One of the seven deadly sins, and one of the most difficult sins to free ourselves from, greed prevents us from loving others and serving God sacrificially. We express our greed either by hoarding our resources, ignoring those in need, or controlling what we get in return for our generosity. To combat the greed t...

One of the sharpest and most consistent criticisms God gives against His people throughout the scriptures is the sin of neglect. As God’s people, the Israelites were chosen as a nation among nations to bring God’s light to a dark world. God’s people were always supposed to care for the poor and marginalized, and to bring the good news of God’s Kingdom to the lost around them. But rather than care for them, they often neglected them. In Isaiah 58, God’s people wonder why their prayers and fasts haven’t been acknowledged by God. God’s response is th...

Fasting is hard because it’s a form of self-denial. We suddenly become aware of our weakness, frailty, and imminence. It’s a reminder that our bodies need sustenance to survive, and without food, we’ll eventually die. But just like our bodies need food for life, our souls need God. David knew this well when he fasted and pleaded with God in Psalm 69. As he denies his body food, he learns to confess his needs before God and redirect his trust back towards Him. Like David, we too are powerless to accomplish our deepest desires and weak when it comes...

In Psalm 63 David is a King on the run. His wealth, power, and possessions have all been stripped away and he finds himself in a desert, fleeing for his life while his own son tries to kill him. And yet, in this season of pain, David’s deepest longings are satisfied by God’s presence. Though most of us today won’t experience our lives endangered in a desert, we will find ourselves in seasons of desert pain at some point or another. But unlike David, our impulse to avoid pain prevents us from experiencing satisfaction in God as we often...

To become the 4th soil, we need to become people with both courage and clarity in sharing the gospel. But most of us are too consumed by fear, shame, and confusion, and our attempts at becoming effective evangelists fall short. We fear losing friendships and facing rejection, we’re ashamed of the offensiveness of the way of Jesus, and we’re confused by what the gospel actually is. Timothy, Paul’s pastoral protégé, dealt with many of the same problems. In 2 Timothy 1, Paul gives an encouraging reminder to Timothy and to us: the power of the gospel comes from God who...

We live in a pivotal moment of our culture. Societal upheaval, corruption, and fear create the potential for another major shift in our society, either toward ruin or renewal. And while the world around us gives in to panic and distraction, the call for the church remains the same: endure hardship. In 2 Timothy 4, this is the command Paul gives to Timothy and his church as they wrestle with the same issues we wrestle with today. Like soldiers, farmers, and athletes, the church’s job is to stay committed to our task, be aware of the season we’re in, and comm...

We are living in the 4th quarter—a time of urgency and opportunity to consecrate our lives and become the fourth soil. Drawing from Mark 4, the call is to resist distractions, align ourselves with God’s Word, and bear lasting fruit. Today, we focus on the chokehold of deceitful desires and how self-control, powered by the Holy Spirit, frees us to live as God intended. Modern culture has shifted from a “should” society to a “could” society, glorifying self-indulgence while leaving us more broken and dissatisfied. Through the lens of scripture, we see the destructive power of unchecked desires—whether in Esau tradin...

We live in an urgent time. With the church in decline, deconstruction increasing, and people abandoning their faith in droves, followers of Jesus need to know how to navigate this cultural moment. And Jesus offers us an answer. In Mark 4, he tells a parable about a man who plants seeds in four different types of soil. Most of the seeds are fruitless, except in the 4th soil. Our goal at Passion Creek is to become this fourth soil. We want to be a church that hears God’s Word, receives it, and bears fruit. We do this by resisting the wo...

Every Christmas, we embark on the journey of Advent, reflecting on the hope, peace, joy, and love brought by Christ’s first coming and ultimately brought to the full at His second coming. But love—especially God’s love—can be the hardest to understand and accept. This teaching explores God’s profound love through the four Gospels, using a poem, a prophecy, a purpose statement, and a parable.

In this Advent message from Luke 2, we explore how chronic anxiety has gripped our society, robbing us of playfulness and joy. Drawing on insights from Luke’s account of the shepherds, Pastor Trey VanCamp reveals that joy is not just an emotion but a motor—a driving force that sustains us in the tension of the “already, not yet” of God’s Kingdom. By embracing joy as both a miracle and a muscle, we can navigate life’s challenges with hope and resilience. This teaching encourages us to “rejoice always,” grounding our joy in Christ and looking forward to His ultimate return.

Life is hard, you're not that important, your life is not about you, you're not in control, and you're going to die. These five harsh truths have historically prepared young men for the challenges of life, yet our culture seems to deny them at every turn. In Acts 28, we see Paul’s life embodying these truths—trials, tragedy, and the appearance of failure—but the Gospel remains unhindered. Join us as we unpack how God works through weakness, tragedy, and loss to bring resurrection power, and how Paul’s unwavering faith in Jesus can inspire us to find hope in the hard...

Our church gathers every Sunday at 9:15a & 11a at Queen Creek Junior High. 20435 South Old Ellsworth Road, Queen Creek, AZ https://passioncreek.church/sundays/ OVERVIEW: In Acts 20, Paul models what a church pastor should be by speaking directly to the elders in Ephesus. He tells them how he’s pastored, inviting them to follow his example in humility, service, vulnerability, and courage. He also warns them that, should they neglect their calling, the people they shepherd will be vulnerable to wolves. For us today, being a part of a church means submitting ourselves to the guiding and guarding of the sp...

In the second half of Acts 19, Paul starts a riot. After confronting the false idols and spiritual powers in Ephesus, some of the local businessmen revolt. While Paul escapes and the church in Ephesus grows, just a few years later Paul has to write to them reminding them to continue following the way of Jesus intentionally rather than being formed by the idols of Ephesus unintentionally. Today, our temptation is much the same. To avoid being formed and shaped by the idols of our city and culture, we must intentionally allow ourselves to be formed into the image of Jesus...

As a church planter, Paul was always on the lookout for “foxes” that can ruin the good soil of the Kingdom — things like cynicism, gossip, and bitterness. But when he meets the Thessalonians and the Bereans, he encounters something different. Rather than brushing him off or blindly accepting his message, the Bereans model healthy skepticism. They are students of God’s Word who orient their lives around His truth. Similarly, the church in Thessalonica is later commended by Paul because of their response to the gospel. Rather than simply believing the right things, they commit to living the right way. Today, w...

Most of us know what it’s like to receive a dream from God — we have a sense of purpose, direction, and perseverance to walk in the calling God has laid out for us. But at some point, we hit resistance. Rather than bring us through upward mobility, our God-given dreams bring us through disappointment, difficulty, disagreement, or detours. In these moments, it’s tempting to give up on the dream altogether. The apostle Paul experienced this well. He’d been given a glimpse of what it would look like to participate in bringing God’s Kingdom down from heaven to earth b...

As good, true, and beautiful as the gospel is, there has always been resistance to it. In Acts 15, we see the natural human inclination to fight against the reality that God forgives us simply because of our faith in Jesus — some Jewish leaders began forcing extra rules on new Christians. Peter, Paul, and the rest of the apostles give a wise response to these new Christians: they tell them to guide their hope back toward Christ alone, but also to guard their lives by following a way of life. The church today faces a similar issue. We’re either tempted to t...

Acts 14 tells a story of Paul and Barnabas living out Kingdom principles while experiencing a tough situation. After miraculously healing a disabled man, they’re hailed as gods before eventually being run out of the city and nearly killed. But even in the midst of these strange circumstances, Paul and Barnabas never abandon the Kingdom way of living. Rather than accepting the peoples’ worship, fighting back against their persecutors, or quitting their mission, they exercise self-control, endure hardship, and do the work of evangelists. Today, our call is the same. Despite persecution, hardship, and the world around us vying for our...

All of us have different feelings and attitudes when it comes to giving money to a local church. For some of us, it’s a regular and assumed part of our discipleship. For others, it’s a financial goal. And for others, it’s an exploitative way for churches to get more money. Regardless of how we feel about tithing, it’s difficult to be a generous person who lives out the way of Jesus without a regular rhythm of supporting the Body of Christ. In 2 Corinthians, we see a picture of what it looks like to become a community that gen...

In Luke 16, Jesus tells a perplexing parable. It’s a story of a dishonest manager who uses his master’s wealth to serve those around him. While Jesus’ doesn’t praise the manager’s dishonesty, he credits his ingenuity. This manager saw himself as a steward, not an owner, of his master’s possessions. When we examine our own perceptions regarding our money, most of us view ourselves as owners — we are the sole owners of our money, wealth, and material possessions. But the way of Jesus is the way of stewardship. By seeing ourselves as stewards of all of the things God...

Like all our beliefs, the attitudes and dispositions we have toward money are largely shaped by our past – our family of origin, our cultural background, and our church experiences. In Luke’s gospel, we see at least 4 different ways of viewing money. Like the Rich Fool in Luke 12, some of us believe that the good life is found when we hoard the most for ourselves. Others of us live more like the Rich Young Ruler in Luke 18; we falsely assume that God will always bless us financially as a reward for our faithfulness. Or we doubt God’s generosity towards us alt...

Fewer sins are as deep-rooted and hard to detect as greed. Not many of us would admit to being greedy or materialistic, but greed, by default, lives inside each one of us. Jesus makes this clear in Luke 11 when he confronts the Pharisees who hid their greed from others and projected generosity instead. While they appeared holy and generous on the outside, Jesus calls out their inner attachment to money. A few chapters later, Jesus makes his criticism of greed even more clear: to ignore the greed that lives inside all of us makes it impossible to truly love God...

As our church looks ahead to the rest of the year, we want to pause and remind ourselves of the vision we started the year with: to make friends and love other people. However, most of us have realized by now how difficult this really is. Jesus holds us to a high standard by commanding us to love our enemies in Luke 6, and so does James when he tells us to confront our bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in James 3. But the gospel gives us hope. By doing the holy work of faith, dying to ourselves, and practicing agape love...

When most of us think of prayer, we think of talking to God. While this definition of prayer isn’t wrong, it can sometimes feel formulaic. We begin to assume that if we ask God for the right things in the right way, we’ll get what we ask for. But in Acts 12 we see God’s people contend with God in desperate prayer that doesn’t fit a formula. As Herod begins to intensely persecute the new church, Jesus’ disciples learn that following Jesus is unpredictable. But they also learn that in prayer, their true hope is in being drawn clos...

As one of Jesus’ disciples, Peter knew what it meant to reorient his life around the love, lifestyle, and leadership of his Rabbi. He led like Jesus, and he lived like Jesus, but Peter still had to learn how to love like Jesus. In Acts 10, Peter is confronted with his next marathon: overcoming his prejudice. As a Jew, Peter believed that the gospel was only good news for his own people. But when God reveals the global scale of the gospel by showing him that Gentiles are just as loved by God as Jews are, Peter must confront his prejudice. Like...

In Acts 9 we meet Saul, a murderer and enemy of the new Christian movement. Saul has built his life around what he believes is the righteous way of God: zealously eradicating evil from the world. But then, in a moment, Saul is transformed. He meets the risen Jesus and learns that the righteousness of God doesn’t come by our earthly power, violence, or force. Instead, it comes through Christ. God in human flesh, coming to take our punishment and suffer violence on our behalf. We can learn from Saul by accepting our own brokenness and inability to achieve righteousness. Li...

In this message, we learn about one of the first false converts of the early church: Simon. Acts 8:1-24

The final part of peacemaking involves making peace with who we really are and who God made us to be. At some point in our lives, our perspective shifts. We realize that we aren’t the hero of our story in the way we thought we’d be. We make mistakes, poor choices, and few of us experience life exactly the way we thought we would. And yet, God can still redeem the lowest parts of our story. In fact, the most influential people in the biblical story all experience dramatic low points. At the end of Genesis, Joseph seems to b...

One of the hardest parts of our lives to make peace with is the pain and suffering that follows us. All of us experience hardship, and for some, it’s the defining attribute of our lives. Whether from death, loss, infertility, chronic illness, sudden diagnoses, relational hurt and betrayal, or simply from apathy and the monotony of life, all of us have painful experiences. Making peace with our pain doesn’t mean we ignore its reality. It actually means the opposite. Unlike Abel in Genesis 4, we don’t allow our pain to stir up bitterness in our hearts. Instead, framing our pa...

Once we’ve made peace with our past, we must learn to forge new patterns. To do this requires us to take ownership for the ways we contribute to the pain of the people around us. All of us have ways of coping with pain in our own lives, and some of these coping mechanisms can be good. If we’re lucky, we learn from our parents what it means to own up to our mistakes, forgive others, and resolve conflict well. But all of us also carry negative coping mechanisms into our relationships as well. Some call these negative copi...

All of us are shaped by our past. Where we come from, who we come from, and the way we were raised all shape who we are today in profound ways. Most of us have a basic awareness of our family of origin, but few of us have done the hard work of learning about our past to better understand who we are today. As a result, all of us unknowingly transmit the same narratives, patterns, pains, and expectations as our family before us. To make peace with our past is to return to an ancient tradition from the scriptures...

Many of us fall into the trap of believing the myth of comfort: if something goes wrong, we must be doing something wrong. We falsely assume that if we’re doing the right things, we won’t face suffering, opposition, or conflict of any kind. But in Acts 6, we see why this is a myth. As it grows, the early church faces conflict. There’s complaining within the church and persecution outside the church. But rather than giving up on those around them or giving in to those around them, the church endures internal resistance and external persecution. By learning to aba...