God Loves The Church

In 1 Thessalonians 2:17-20, the Apostle Paul expresses intense affection toward the church in Thessalonica that might seem disproportionate given their lack of size, influence, etc. This transparent moment in the writings of Paul teaches us something fundamental about the local church - that it is precious because it’s precious to God. The men and women who comprise each local church are “blood-bought” treasures to the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:28) who gave His very life to call them His own. The implication for us? We ought to love and treasure and prioritize what God treasures. Love your brothers and sisters in the local church.

Listen to this week’s sermon here.

Christians have been unified around a central story for millennia. Through this story, God has built His Church. He established and kept the local church in first century Thessalonica. He’s done the same with Sovereign Grace Church of Santa Ana. Listen to last week’s sermon from 1 Thessalonians 2:13-16 to learn how God calls men and women into His Church and then sustains them, deploys them and grows them, even through seasons of deep suffering.

Listen to this week’s sermon here.

Are You Looking For These Marks?

In 1 Thessalonians 2, the Apostle Paul engages in a curious section in which he defends … himself. Why is this included in our Bibles? On one hand, because in the face of intense opposition, his readers were tempted to doubt that Paul’s ministry and thus, his Gospel and their salvation were bogus. On the other hand, it’s there because it gives us an insight into what genuine ministry from God looks like. In this week’s sermon, Jeff Schlieder identified multiple marks of a genuine ministry that you should look for in your leaders. You should encourage and pray for these marks in our church’s future leaders. When all is said and done, these marks are ultimately a reflection of the Head of the Church Himself - Christ our Lord.

Listen to this week’s sermon here.

What Should Impress Us In Other People?

As Paul begins his first letter to the church in Thessalonica, he does so by offering thanks to God - thanks to God for something about the men and women at the church. Word of this same “something” had spread all the way to Macedonia and Achaia and the rest of the region. In this week’s sermon, we explored what it is that is worthy of fame in God’s kingdom; what it is that should impress us in other people. What we discovered is that people themselves shouldn’t impress us at all, but what God has done and is doing through people. We should be impressed by what magnifies the fame of God.

Listen to this week’s sermon here.

The Cost of the Gospel vs. the Worth of Following Christ

The New Testament book of 1 Thessalonians is one written to a small church plant in first century Greece. Over the past year, we’ve reviewed the message of the prophets and beheld God’s miraculous fulfillment of the prophets in Christ. We’ve also considered the glories that await us through the return of Christ and the age to come. Yet as we remain in between Jesus’ first and second coming, we wait. And while we wait, the Christian life can seem downright mundane despite the glorious realities spoken of in Scripture. The book of 1 Thessalonians, however, will teach us to see the miraculous in the mundane.

In the first sermon of this series, Jeff Schlieder preached from 1 Thessalonians 1:1 to identify the miraculous nature of our conversion and the astounding implications of having been recipients of “grace and peace”.

Listen to this Sunday’s sermon here.

Your Language Is Directly Related To Your Name

In the first message of 2020, Kyle preached from Genesis 11:1-9 and addressed a subject that has tremendous relevance to our church today: the subject of language. In the past year, we’ve made many changes related to the accommodation of our Spanish-speaking members and neighbors. A very worthwhile question is, “why do this when we can simply relate to others with whom there are no language barriers?”. Genesis 11 helps us toward the answer by reminding us that the reason for such a proliferation of languages in the world is not a good one. But the work of Christ on the cross reversed Genesis 11 and informs how we ultimately answer the question. Whether you speak English, Spanish or any other language, take a listen to Sunday’s message.

Listen to this week’s sermon here.

Heaven Will Satisfy Our Desire For The Satisfaction of All Other Desires

Christ has come and he has ushered in the new era. However, the fullness of all that this means for the church and for this world has not yet dawned. There is a final chapter to our history and to the history of the world that has been written and remains to be realized. The message of the Gospel tells us this world is headed somewhere. It will not carry on this way forever, and that speaks to something embedded deep within us. This past Sunday we looked to the future and encountered the hope that is held out for us in heaven. For all those longing and waiting for all things to be made new we have hope that in the new creation with Christ all our desires will be completely satisfied.

Listen to this week’s sermon here.

Christmas Is The Story of The Prince Who Battled The Dragon To Save His Bride

Of all the symbols of Christmas, you’ve probably never included dragons in your list. Yet, Revelation 12 tells a symbolic story of the birth of Christ through images including a prince, a bride and a dragon. It reminds us that even in His incarnation as a baby, Jesus’ birth was a declaration of war against Satan, sin and death. In our final installment of our 2019 Christmas series, we learn that Jesus satisfies our longing for peace through declaring war on that which destroys peace upon the earth.

Listen to this week’s sermon here.

Simeon Had Finally Seen What He Had Longed His Whole Life For

In the fourth installment of this year’s “Cast of Christmas” series, we met Simeon, a man who had longed for “The Consolation of Israel” - God’s promised Messiah. When he finally met him in the form of a baby, so satisfied was Simeon that he was ready “to depart in peace”. Simeon is perhaps the most vivid picture of “longing satisfied” in the narrative of the first Christmas. He longed for the comfort that God had promised to his people through His Anointed One and He experienced such deep satisfaction in his encounter with that very one that there was no longer anything better the earth could offer him. If you long for comfort and satisfaction of that kind, listen to last Sunday’s message.

Listen to this week’s sermon here.

Do You Long For Truth?

There weren’t necessarily three of them. They probably weren’t kings. They weren’t present at the birth of Jesus. The Magi are some of the most well-known members of the “Cast of Christmas”, but at the same time, their role in the story is shrouded in untruth. Curiously, the Magi were in fact those who spent their lives seeking for truth - in various religions, in natural phenomena and in the stars, yet what they found when the followed one particular star was Truth itself, Jesus Christ. When they found Him, they literally “rejoiced exceedingly with great joy”. Do you long to know truth? Do you long to know the answers to life’s deepest and most troubling questions? Do you long to know that your life has meaning, what true morality is, if there is a God, what He is like, how you should live and what this all means? Your journey for the answers to these questions, like the Magi, will not end until you encounter Jesus.

Listen to this week’s sermon here.