Do Justice, Love Kindness, Walk Humbly With Your God

Last Sunday, in our third message in the book of Micah, we came across the Bible’s most famous passage regarding “social justice” - Micah 6:8. This verse is used as the basis for service projects, feedings ministries and short-term missions trips around the globe. But it’s important to understand why Micah said these words to the nation of Judah. In Micah chapters 6-7, we discover that in order to have the right motivation to serve the lowly among us, we have to recognize and acknowledge our spiritual lowness; our moral poverty. That realization positions us not as “Saviors” to our neighbors, but humbles us to know that we’re as needy as anybody for God’s grace. Furthermore, when we’ve received God’s grace for our moral poverty, we’re able to do social justice in a way that addresses the needs of the whole person - both physical and spiritual needs.

Listen to last week’s message

God Will Not Allow Oppression of the Lowly To Go Unpunished

Continuing on in our sermon series through the Minor Prophet book of Micah, Jeff Schlieder preached the second message in the series from Micah 3:1-12. Through the book of Micah, God wants to elevate your attitude toward the lowly. In this particular passage, He does this by reminding of the judgment that awaits those who prey on the lowly. While this is a sweet comfort to those under the weight of oppression, it’s also a call to repentance to those who knowingly extract and extort from the poor for their own personal gain.

For anyone who falls in the latter category, which, at the end of the day turns out to be all of us, the remedy is to repent of that sin and turn to Christ, who, though He was rich, yet became poor for our sake.

Listen to the message here.

Our Greatest Need When We Gather Together Is To Have a Genuine Encounter With God

Last Sunday, we had the joy and privilege of hosting Dustin Smetona, pastor at Sovereign Grace Church of Orange. He preached a message from Isaiah 6:1-8 reminding us of the importance of our Sunday meetings together. While Sunday morning worship can seem routine and unremarkable on the outside, we need to remember the profound significance of why it is we gather. Dustin explained four needs that we have that God meets for us through our Sunday morning worship. Whether you’ve been attending church for a week or 30 years, listen to this sermon.

Listen to the message here.

A New Book: Micah

For the past four weeks, we’ve studied the book of Joel. Now, as a church, we turn to the book of Micah in our Minor Prophets series occurring over the course of summer and fall, 2019. Micah teaches us to “elevate our attitude toward the lowly”. This past Sunday, from Micah 2:1-11, we discovered that God is not indifferent to oppression or the poverty it causes, but that He detests it. Furthermore, we learned that oppression doesn’t happen in a vaccuum. Oppression has a cause. That cause has to do first not with our attitude toward the poor, but our attitude toward God.

Listen to the message here.

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.

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