As we concluded our time in the book of Joel, we came across Joel chapter 3 - one of the most sobering passaged you can read in the Bible. This chapter confronts you with the reality that God will judge all sin and evil once and for all. And it will be worse than you can imagine. However, until that day, there is still hope for His mercy through the message of His Son. This terrible reality should cause us as Christians to respond - not by shying away from the truth of God’s judgment, but by allowing it to motivate us to be conduits of God’s mercy to our Santa Ana neighbors.

Listen to the message here.

Money Can’t Buy What God’s Mercy Gives

In last week’s sermon from Joel 2:18-32, the tone of the book of Joel changes abruptly from a call to repentance to a sudden announcement of future blessing and restoration in verse 18. What we might expect to precede verse 18 is evidence of Judah’s repentance, but there is none. The second half of Joel 2 teaches us that God’s mercy is not something that’s earned. Also, it’s so valuable, it cannot be bought. Are you trying to earn God’s mercy? Are you in any way trying to achieve what His mercy gives on your own? Listen to last week’s sermon to discover the wonder of God’s incredible mercy.

Listen to the message here.

God’s Loves Us Too Much To Allow Us To Settle For Our Sin

In last Sunday’s message from Joel 2, we read about the prophet Joel’s warning to the people of Judah of a coming judgment greater than the locust invasion of chapter 1 … if they remain in their sin. The irrationality of our sin is such that sometimes we’ll be content living with the consequences of our dishonor of God, while God stands ready to give us His blessings. For those who belong to God, Joel 2 teaches us to understand the warnings of God’s just judgment on sin to be a means to draw us back to fellowship with Him - something far greater than any sin promises.

Listen to the message here

Fake Positivity Ignores A Very Real God

This Sunday marked the beginning of our fall sermon series in the Minor Prophets. Beginning in the book of Joel, we came across a Hebrew nation that had just endured a devastating locust invasion. It was not mere happenstance, but rather a consequence of the prolonged sin of God’s people and their unresponsiveness to the consequences of their sin. God then issues a consequence that they can’t ignore. It’s not, however, out of cruelty. Instead, it’s done out of love - to bring them back to Himself. The peoples’ willful ignorance of their own sin and its consequences had led them to miss what God was up to. The same is true in our lives. When we smooth over our disobedience with positivity and rationalization; when we ignore the very real consequences of our sins, we run the risk of missing the very real mercy of God drawing us back to Himself.

Listen to the message here.

You Need The Prophets … Really!

The 17 books at the end of the Old Testament are probably the 17 books you’re least familiar with in the Bible. They’re the books you’re least prone to read during your devotions. Rarely is a sermon series preached on them. They seem difficult to understand and impractical.

However, if you’re someone who’s fed up - with the world around you, with the vicious cycle of your circumstances or with your own inconsistency and hypocrisy, then there’s no better place to turn in the Bible than the prophets. These books help us to see our deep need for something other than ourselves and the solutions of the world. They bring us to our knees and make us cry out, “God, we need you to break this cycle!”.

For the next four months, we’ll be in the prophets Joel, Micah and Jonah.

This week, we unfortunately don’t have a sermon to listen to. Our church computer was stolen shortly after last Sunday’s service (pray that whoever stole it listens to the sermon!). However, we’ve uploaded the transcript so that you can READ last Sunday’s sermon. Read this introduction to the prophets to prepare for and get excited for what God might do over these next few months.

Read the message here.

Live Like Jesus Is Actually Coming Back

Prophets, for hundreds of years before Christ, had predicted that God would one day come to judge the living and the dead and finally make all things new. Jesus Himself had identified Himself as that very judge. He told His followers that after He died and was raised, that He would come back - to judge, but also to bring all who belong to Him to Himself. This is the final chapter to the Good News of Jesus Christ.

However, Peter writes in 2 Peter 3 to the Church in Rome … and to us … to remind us that we shouldn’t only be mentally convinced that Jesus is coming back. His future return should utterly change the way we live.

Listen to Sunday’s Message To Hear More

Jesus has invited us to respond.

The fifth message in our “What Is The Gospel?” sermon series asked questions like, “what kind of response does the work of Christ require?” , “who can respond?”, and “who should respond?”. The Gospel tells us that Christ first responded in love toward us to successfully deal with our sin where we had failed. This initiative on the part of God bids everybody respond with the simple, yet infinitely profound posture of the heart called “faith”.

Listen to last week’s sermon from Romans 10:5-13 to learn more.

The Heart Of The Message At The Heart Of Christianity

Jesus took what we did not want to give what we could not get. On the cross, Jesus exchanged our sin for His righteousness. The Father sent Him, the most valuable thing in creation, to pay our penalty that we might be reconciled to God. You can’t make it up. It’s the greatest story ever told. It’s the only essential message in all of history. It’s the only way to be saved. This is a message worth listening to.

Listen to the message here.

Sin: The Bad News of The Gospel

Before the Gospel is good new, it is first bad news. It may seem easier and more comfortable to pretend like this bad news doesn’t exist, but in reality, this bad news is the underlying cause for every evil act, every injustice and every disaster on this earth. Furthermore, without this bad news, we’d have no need for the good news. Listen to the third message in our “What Is The Gospel?” series to understand exactly why we so desperately need the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Listen to the message here.

Created In The Image Of God

God created all things. But He set a particular focus on creating humans. No other creature in the entire created realm received the attention that humans received. Created with the very image of God, His character, His likeness, within them. Created for relationship with the Creator of the universe. Created with the capacity to love. Created for a purpose. Listen to the second message in our “What Is The Gospel?” summer sermon series to discover God’s intent in creating you.

Listen to the message here.