THE VINEDRESSER & THE VINE

This Sunday, we had the privilege of hearing Pastor Kyle preach the gospel to us before sending him off to our sister church in Orange. He left us with a word that we need to hear in a time like this - along with any other time. That we must embrace the pruning work of the Father and abide like our lives depend on it in Christ the Son. Believing that as we do hard things - like sending away dear friends - experience suffering, or encounter dark days in the Christian life, God is at work to make us more fruitful. Being freshly convinced that if there’s any fruit on our branches it’s because life is flowing to them through Christ the Vine. What we need most now is what we’ve always needed and will continue to need forever, to keep Christ at the very center of who we are and all we do.

LISTEN TO THE SERMON HERE

IF IT HAPPENED THERE, IT CAN HAPPEN HERE

We come to the final sermon in our mini-series. Up until this point, we've learned HOW revival comes - by the Spirit working through the ordinary means of grace. We've learned WHEN revival comes - whenever God wants to bring it. And now, we're left with one final question, "Do you believe it'll get here?" We know revival came in biblical times. We've heard the stories from church history. But do we actually believe revival will come to Santa Ana? Acts 19:8-27 speaks into our doubts and tells the story of the Ephesian Revival of AD 53-56. It paints a picture of the extraordinary fervor for Christ which results when the Spirit is freshly poured out upon the ordinary means. The point is not that everything that happened there will happen here. But instead, that IF it happened there, it can happen here as well. We respond to this story by envisioning, imagining, and asking "What would it look like for Santa Ana to become Ephesus?" 

LISTEN TO THE SERMON HERE

WE TOOK OUR JOY IN JESUS ON THE ROAD

This Sunday, we held our first ever service in the park! We worshiped God right in the middle of the neighborhood he’s placed us in and what a wonderful time it was! We gathered in the open, sang loud for all to hear, and offered our French Park neighbors a window into the joy we have in Jesus.

Thank you to all of our volunteers who helped bring everything from tables and chairs to coffee and sweet breads.

WHENEVER GOD WANTS IT TO

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been freshly convinced that we are people in need of revival in a world that desperately needs reviving. We’re asking God to do something about it. But, what if he doesn’t answer? What if revival doesn’t come quickly enough? What if we do all this now, and nothing seems to change? Waiting is hard. But the words of Christ in Mark 4:26-32 speak into our longing and help us wait with hope. His short answer to our big question, “When will revival come?” is “Whenever God wants it to come.” There’s nothing we can do to get around waiting on him. It's all in his hands and on his timetable (Mk 4:26-29). But this isn't bad news for us! Because Jesus makes it plain that God definitely wants to bring revival (Mk 4:30-32). He desires to make our little church grow up like a big tree that can shelter countless Santa Ana neighbors under the shade of its branches.

LISTEN TO THE SERMON HERE

ENDURE HARD THINGS BY EXPECTING ETERNAL THINGS

We are people who are weary, wasting away, and in desperate need of revival. We live in a world that's groaning, filled with hard things, and longing to be made new. On Sunday, guest preacher Eric Turbedsky from our sister church in Orange offered us an eternal perspective on our present griefs. According to 2 Corinthians 4:17-18, one thing that keeps us going is the confidence that this is all going somewhere. That every hard thing we do is worth it. That the Risen Christ is at work to prepare the weary people that we are for "an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison." Expecting eternal things to come enables us to endure hard things now. So look to what is unseen, and be refreshed with the hope that one day all we'll know is revival. All things made new. All unholiness put aside. Every trace of death defeated. All sorrow turned to joy. 

LISTEN TO THE SERMON HERE

THE SPIRIT WORKING THROUGH THE WORD

One of the chief marks of all true historical revivals - which preceded the sweet harvests of joy which followed - was a refreshed gravity regarding the holiness of God, a seriousness about spiritual things, and a soul-searching crucible in which the Church urgently cast herself upon grace. The instrument which does this heart-piercing, soul-splitting work, is none other than the word of God. And that's exactly what we see in Nehemiah 8. God at work through his word to meet the weak, weary, and self-reliant hearts of his people with conviction. Reforming and restoring them within. Refreshing them with the joy of their salvation. Preparing them to pour that joy out to those beyond. 

LISTEN TO THE SERMON HERE

REVIVE OUR HEARTS. REVIVE OUR CHURCH. REVIVE OUR CITY.

On Sunday, we kicked off a study on the subject of revival. Between now and the end of September, we’re journeying through select passages in the Old and New Testaments in order to explore what revival is, how it comes, and why we should expect it in our church and city today.

WHAT WE’RE AFTER

All sorts of things probably come to mind when you hear the word “revival.” Do you think of Billy Graham preaching to thousands? Big tent meetings and traveling crusades? Good old-fashioned religion? Altar calls, walking aisles, and raising hands? Excited and ecstatic people? Singing, dancing, speaking in tongues, and getting caught up and carried away in some kind of powerful emotional experience? 

Is revival “Something that used to happen?” “Something to be avoided or wary of happening?” Or frankly, “Something that is not much at all?” A term Christians all too frequently throw around with little substance to it. And seemingly always talk about with little to show for it?

But what is revival, really? What are we after here? We believe that revival is when the Spirit of God is poured out upon the ordinary means of grace given to the Church to produce extraordinary fervor for Christ. When this happens, what takes place is a Spirit-wrought reformation - within the church - that leads to renewal - beyond the church. As God enflames the hearts of his people with a heat that brings true conviction over sin, greater appreciation of grace, intensified desires to live godly lives, and joy that is so contagious it can't stay within the walls of the church. We see these moves of the Spirit all throughout the pages of Scripture and the many chapters of Church History. We believe we can and should ask God to work in such a way today.

HOW WE’LL GET THERE

Over the next few weeks, we’ll follow the road-map provided in our definition above to increase our desire for revival. Looking to God’s word to stoke our longing for God’s extraordinary work. Here’s the list of stops we’ll make along the way:

• Zechariah 4:1-7 - Revival comes by the Spirit

• Nehemiah 8:1-18 - Through the word which reforms the church and restores God’s people

• Acts 19:8-27 - To renew the city in which they’ve been placed

Meditate upon these passages. Check out additional resources here and here. Pray that would glorify himself by doing a work among us that could only come from him.

“I do not desire, I do not advise a bustling, artificial effort to get up a revival, nor the construction of any man-devised machinery…I want God’s work, not man’s” (John Angell James).

A WORK ONLY GOD CAN DO

Revival is an amazing work of God. But all too often, we settle for what man can do. In our own lives - whether it’s in the work we’re doing to build up the church and advance her mission, or in our fight against sin, our attempts to change, our strivings to find joy, experience peace, relieve our anxieties, and on and on - we’re content with something we can do. Our first reflex is to do more, work harder, and rely on ourselves. But the work of refreshing our hearts, reviving our church, and renewing our city is a work that only God can do. So, we need the power that only God possesses. More than anything else, we must depend upon the Holy Spirit.

LISTEN TO THE SERMON HERE

Grasp THE RIGHT THINGS TIGHTLY

This Sunday was the last sermon in our study of 1 Timothy. A sermon series that’s taught us: that nothing shapes the lives we live more than what we believe. In the final section of the letter, we encountered a passage intended to shape what we believe this life is for. What it’s all about. The point of it all. In 1 Tim 6:17-21, the Apostle Paul lays out the winning strategy for the Christian life. Two movements that will get us in shape to score points for the glory and Kingdom of Christ. A 1-2 punch that will cause our life in the household of God to be happy, healthy, and fruitful until the head of the household returns. Here’s the winning combination: to be a church that will stand strong and stand long in our city for the next 100 years, we must hold our temporary treasures loosely (6:17-19) and grasp the imperishable treasure of the gospel more tightly than anything else (6:20-21).

LISTEN TO THE SERMON HERE

GET READY TO CELEBRATE NEW LIFE IN CHRIST

On Sunday, August 31st, we have the privilege of witnessing individuals publicly identify with Jesus Christ as they profess their faith in his sacrificial death and victorious resurrection. They’ll do this through their baptism. That sacrament through which we confess with our mouths what we’ve believed in our hearts. Demonstrating outwardly what was true of us inwardly from the moment we believed. Signifying our union with Jesus in his dying and rising. Marking the end of our old life in sin and commemorating our entrance into a new life with Christ and his people - which carries on forever.

BAPTISM IMMEDIATELY AFTER SERVICE on 8/31 AT THE LEE HOME

If you’re interested in being baptized or have questions about baptism, please contact one of our pastors.