DO YOU LOVE THE CHURCH?

This past Sunday marked the beginning of our summer sermon series, "The Beauty of the Church.” 6 weeks. 6 pastors. 6 reasons why we love the local church. This is a sermon series for those who: struggle to see the qualities of the church, tirelessly serve within her ministries, are dismayed by her apparent failures, have been “burnt” by the church, who have rare, unsustainable glimpses of her beauty, and at bottom, are most focused upon what the church does for us and not who she is. And when we ask the question, “Who is the church?” the foremost biblical response is, “The beautiful bride of Christ.” Acts 20:28 tells us why she’s beautiful. Because she is the “church of God,” whom God, the most beautiful of all, has chosen to reflect his glory to the world. Because she’s been made beautiful through cross of Christ, ransomed “with his own blood,” to magnify the grace, beauty, and love of her bridegroom. Learn to see the church as Jesus sees her and listen to the sermon here.

HIS JOY BECOMES OUR JOY WHEN WE SHARE HIS JOY

In Luke 15, Jesus shares three parables about things that have been lost: a sheep, a coin, and a son. And his point in all three is to demonstrate God’s love for those whom He’s called, but have become lost. Jesus calls His people to extend His love to those very same lost souls. In order to effectively carry out that mission we must understand three things that the parables in Luke 15 teach us, namely, the danger the lost are in, the value of the lost, and the joy that’s experienced in the salvation of the lost. As a church, we have a mission to spread the joy of Jesus to our Santa Ana neighbors. Listen to this last Sunday’s sermon to ground your own heart in the the teachings of Jesus to spark the evangelistic flame in your life.

LISTEN TO THE SERMON HERE

THE KING OF KINGS IS ALL FOR YOU

We spent 9 months walking together through a sermon series in the book of 1 Samuel. It would be a tragedy if after all that time, you left without a big picture lesson to take with you for daily life. So, this last Sunday, Pastor Kyle preached a message from 2 Samuel 1-12 to reinforce a central lesson that’s taught in 1 Samuel and reiterated through 2 Samuel. That lesson? That God’s promised King, who reigns over all other kings and the universe itself, is all for His people. And if you belong to that king - King Jesus - through the obedience of faith, you belong to that people. You can be assured through promises like the one God made to David in 1 Samuel 7 and through the story told in 1 Samuel 11-12 that He has exerted all His power and wisdom over the course of human history to do good to His people. This is a lesson you need to take with you wherever you go. Listen to Sunday’s sermon to learn more.

LISTEN TO THE SERMON HERE

AS DARK AS THE STORY LOOKS, IT ENDS WITH A GLIMPSE OF LIGHT

After 9 months of sermons, our series in the OT book of 1 Samuel has come to an end. And it ended in a similar way to how it began. 1 Samuel began without a king in the land and everyone doing what was right in their own eyes (see Judges 21:25). The story ends without a king in the land because he only did what was right in his own eyes. The story of the establishment of the monarchy in Israel ends with the death of the bad king, Saul. Saul was the king like all the nations that the people had wanted (1 Sam 8:5), but at the end of the day he was not the king they needed. His failure to deliver his people in battle represents the failure of every one of our false kings to deliver us from trouble and bring us into blessing.

On this dark day in Israel’s history, all the hopes the people had placed in Saul were dashed and disappointed as their army was defeated, their king was humiliated, and their lands taken by the Philistines in battle. Have your hopes ever come crashing down? Have you placed your trust in false kings that have failed you? There’s good news for you, because as dark as this day was, it ends with a glimpse of light. There’s hope because even though there was no human king on the throne, God, the King who is, never stopped reigning. And just as he removed the bad king, he’d raise up the True King who’d never let his people down. Listen to the message and renew your hope in the King who is.

LISTEN TO THE SERMON HERE

GOD WILL BE FAITHFUL TO HIS PROMISES

At times, the future looks bleak. It looks like there’s no way out of misery or into happiness. Yet God has promised good for those whom He loves. As His covenant people, in fact, how can we be sure any of His promises will come to pass for us? In a word, because of Christ. David, living long before Christ, found himself in a place where it seemed nearly impossible for God’s promises to him to come to pass. Yet, the same faithfulness that God will show to us was shown to him. Listen to last Sunday’s sermon from 1 Samuel 29-30 to learn more.

LISTEN TO THE SERMON HERE

WHEN LIFE FEELS LIKE DEATH, WALK YOUR SORROWS TO THE EMPTY GRAVE

In 2 Corinthians 1:8-10, Paul tells the church at Corinth that his recent suffering had been so deep that he had begun “to despair of life itself”. In fact, he felt like he was on death’s doorstep anyway. But despite the gravity of what he was facing, he was able to see what God was doing through that and he wanted to encourage his readers to see the same thing in the midst of their suffering. And it has everything to do with Easter and the resurrection of Jesus. Take a listen to our English/Spanish sermon from this Easter Sunday.

LISTEN TO THE BILINGUAL EASTER HOMILY HERE.

WHEN WE SEEK THE RESULTS OF GOD’S FAVOR WITHOUT SEEKING GOD HIMSELF

In 1 Samuel 28, Saul consults a medium - an ancient magician - to communicate the a deceased Samuel and seek guidance for the battle ahead with the Philistines. The result? Through Samuel, God confirms His judgment of Saul. While you and I might not be seeking out necromancy and divination for guidance in our lives, we yet have the tendency to seek out “magical solutions” to our problems by, like Saul, seeking the results of God’s favor apart from seeking God Himself. Listen to last Sunday’s sermon to learn more.

LISTEN TO THE SERMON HERE

YET BY GOD’S GRACE LIFE IS STILL FRUITFUL

The Bible has one hero. It’s not Abraham, Moses or even David. It’s God. 1 Samuel has been a book where we’ve seen glimpses of the “King who Is” in David, but over and again, we’ve seen his imperfection. These are glimpses of us.

In 1 Samuel 27, David flees from Saul to the Philistines. While exiled in a foreign land, he violently wages war against neighboring nations. What appears to be a sensible flight and heroic action is, in reality, self-reliance, deceptive scheming and violence. Yet through it all, God preserves David and completes the conquest of Canaan. The lesson? God’s ability to bear fruit in our lives is not dependent on our faithfulness. This is called grace. Listen to Sunday’s sermon to learn more.

LISTEN TO THE SERMON HERE

IF YOU WANT THINGS SET RIGHT YOU NEED BOTH JUSTICE AND MERCY

In 1 Samuel 26, David spares Saul’s life … again. It’s a picture of the character of the king that we need. But David proves that he himself is not that king. Because the king we need is a king who can be both perfectly just and completely merciful if our lives and the world around us are ever to be set right. He points forward to that king. And on this side of the cross, we know that king. Listen to Sunday’s sermon to learn more.

LISTEN TO THE SERMON HERE

PLAYING KING WHEN THE KING OF KINGS HAS INVITED YOU TO FEAST WITH HIM

In 1 Samuel 25, David, the anointed king, asks for help from a man named Nabal. Nabal had the resources David needed to feed his men. In return for his help, Nabal would have feasted with the king and would have his long-term favor when David finally gained his kingdom. But Nabal instead decided to hoard his belongings and act like king over his own little sham kingdom. The result was his own death. The story illustrates the simple warning and promise of Ps. 2:6-12: reject Christ the King and “perish in the way.” Receive his good & perfect reign and enjoy an eternal “refuge in him.” Listen to last Sunday’s sermon to learn more.

LISTEN TO THE SERMON HERE