Divine Savior Church-santa Rita Ranch Sermons

From the beginning, we have so often chosen to make our own standards of what is good and right. Our own codes of morality.  No matter how well we might think that works, it won’t help us if it doesn’t line up with God’s standard of morality. We have fallen so far short and gotten so off track from that standard. Which created all kinds of damage in our lives and collateral damage in the lives of those around us. The influences we often listen to point us to live by our own codes of morality instead of God’s. That won’t help us. But God, who loves us, had a way to give us his morality, his righteousness, as a gift. He also provided a way for us to be encouraged, influenced, & shepherded back to the life He offers us. He did that all through Jesus. The One promised to come.Support the show

We’ve heard stories about people discovering very valuable treasures that were right under their noses for a long time. They just didn’t realize it until they made an unexpected discovery. Can that be true about the relationship we have with the most valuable treasure we have on earth? Has it been sitting under our noses without us realizing it? I am talking about the Bible. The Word of God with which He reveals Himself and his good news to us with! An Old Testament king discovered this lost treasure and it changed his life.  Why is God’s Word such a valuable treasure? Because we want to see Jesus! And Jesus IS the Word! If we aren’t in our Bibles, we are missing out on Jesus. Then we are missing hope. Let find Him. He’s right there in the Word!Support the show

How often do you feel alone in life? More often than you should. God said from the beginning it’s not good for us to be alone. He gave us each other to be a community of people on earth. And He also promised us his presence. Throughout the Bible, we see the many ways God reminds us of his presence. Especially the visible way He reminded us of his presence with the Temple. But that temple pointed to the ultimate way He would be with us – in Jesus, the true Temple. And before He left, Jesus said He would be with us always. As Jesus lives in our hearts, we are now God’s temple, God’s presence here on earth. Because Jesus is present in our hearts!Support the show

We aren’t always good at remembering, so we need reminders. Our photos apps and social media occasionally send us images as reminders of what happened 5, 10, or 15 years ago. We put pictures on the wall to remind us of beautiful memories. It’s important to do this! God taught his people the importance of remembering things by setting up physical reminders or even by giving certain names to people. We need daily reminders of God’s grace and love and salvation, and He gives us those in his Word. As He was saving his people through an Old Testament man named Joshua, we see Jesus, our Savior, right in the middle of it. A reminder of God’s salvation!Support the show

You Can Rest Now  (God Substitutes/Sacrifices For Us)Imagine having to pay back your debt to society… having to make up for everything you have ever done wrong. That would be frustrating and exhausting. The book of Leviticus shows us just how exhausting it would be, and how many sacrifices it would take. But Leviticus wasn’t put in the Bible to exhaust you or discourage you from continuing your Bible reading plan… it was put there to powerfully show you God’s solution for all we owe! In a beautiful and dramatic way, Leviticus shows us how God is going to give us rest! Right in the center of this book is Jesus! Once you see Him there, you will never be able to miss Him!Support the show

The Passover Lamb  (God Forgives Us)Maybe you have neighbors who celebrate Passover and you wonder what that is all about. It is a central idea in the Bible and a huge part of the worship rhythm of God’s people. The original feast helped God’s people remember how He delivered them from slavery and oppression. Year after year, they observed this to remember that. But at the same time, they were learning about a much greater future deliverance… their Passover lambs pointed to The Passover Lamb whose blood would save them for good. The ties between the two are impossible to dismiss. Jesus was there all along! Our real Passover Lamb! Whose death freed us for good!Support the show

We Want To See Jesus (God Fixes Us)A lot of people, including Christians, don’t seem to know the Old Testament very well. We might know a few of the Sunday School stories. But beyond that, we quit on Bible reading plans because we get bored by the time we get to Leviticus. It might be because we aren’t seeing Jesus in it. And He is there. Right from the beginning, the epic battle begins. And we need Someone to come and rescue us and win that battle for us. We need a Man who stands in the gap for us. A true King. And He is promised from the beginning.Support the show

The school year may still feel somewhat fresh and new, but did you know? The end is near! No, not necessarily the end of this school year. The Very End. What does this mean? Jesus made it clear that there will be a harvest of souls at the end of time when he comes back. None of us knows exactly when that day will be. That’s why our mission of changing lives with the good news of Jesus is ongoing, necessary, and urgent even to the very end. But the good news is Jesus hasn’t left us on our own until then. If he did, it would be almost impossible to carry on through the inevitable difficult days we face here on earth. But remember, this isn’t mission impossible. It’s mission possible! The Great Commission is our Co-mission with Jesus who leaves these words of promise ringing in our ears as we go out into the harvest field of this world, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”Support the show

If there is rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who turns to the Lord (and there is!), then we want to celebrate too! We want to rejoice in the great work that God is doing here and across all our Divine Savior campuses as we change lives with Jesus through the gospel. So let the party begin! Why? Because God’s love is global! The Bible shows us how the gospel creates a new humanity focused on Jesus who died and rose for all. His forgiveness and love unites us even across different cultures and countries...and across all Divine Savior campuses. United in Christ, these differences enrich our church when we all move in the same direction to carry out the mission our Savior has given us.Support the show

Jesus didn’t give us a great suggestion. He gave us a great commission. “Make disciples.” Literally, it’s a command. In other words, Jesus is saying, “Don’t just have good intentions, but also get this action done.” That begs the question, “How?” The good news is Jesus didn’t make this impossible. He actually made it doable! And not just for religious professionals like pastors and teachers, but for people just like you. This week we’ll learn about the doctrine of vocation and how that fits in well with our intentional strategy to carry out Christ’s great commission together as Divine Savior Church. Support the show

Telling others about Jesus is more about trusting God’s powerful word than trusting in our own knowledge or ability to share it. Once we get over ourselves we all can become people who love to “plant gospel seeds” even though we all have different gifts, abilities, relationships, and opportunities. The power isn’t in us, but we all have an important part to play so that the Holy Spirit can do his greater part of creating and growing faith through the gospel. Is it possible for us to make disciples? Yes, with the help of God! Support the show

Tell others about Jesus? Try and get them to change their mind? Convince them to believe? To many, that sounds intimidating, perhaps even impossible. It is certainly easier to assume that it might be best to just remain quiet. Lack of knowledge, insecurities, inexperience, doubts, fears…there are plenty of reasons to think, “I Could Never.” But what about all of us together? What about when Jesus comes to us as his disciples just as he said he would, meets us where we’re at, and answers our “I Could Never” with a great claim, “I have all authority”?Support the show

Our society seems obsessed with the idea of creating a world where no one is offended by what others say. Safe spaces are created so that people can be free of bias, criticism, conflict or ideas that they don't personally like. Yet Christians always seem to be fair game for criticism. No one seems to care about offending us! Does anyone care if I am offended as a Christian? How should I react when I am offended? How can I live in a world like this as a disciple of Jesus?  Jesus cares and he is my greatest example and motivation for living in a world that hates being offended but at the same time loves to offend.Support the show

The world we live in is changing at a blinding pace. Truth has become as flexible as a rubber band. What is acceptable today will not be acceptable tomorrow. Those who used to be admired are now vilified and hated. What used to be considered good is now considered despicable. Bad behavior is rewarded and applauded. It's enough to make us all live in a constant state of confusion, not knowing what to believe or how to live!  Confusion turns to clarity, however, when the sound doctrine of the Word of God instructs our hearts, rebukes our sins, corrects our errors and encourages us to fight the good fight, finish the race, and receive the crown of righteousness.  Support the show

We feel shame when we fail to live up to our own expectations or those of others. We may bring shame on ourselves or on others by our actions. We may feel shame because of the actions of someone close to us. Sadly, because of social media, our mistakes can easily end up in the feeds of many people, which only adds to our personal and public shame as they share and retweet. The Twelve experienced a heavy load of shame on Thursday of Holy Week. By their actions, they brought shame on themselves, on each other, and mostly on their Master. Eleven of them eventually came to believe that Jesus, who died the most shameful death imaginable, had taken away their shame before God. Their failures are all recorded for the world in the New Testament, but Jesus was not ashamed to call them brothers, made his power perfect through their weaknesses, and empowered them to live without shame and with a new identity: forgiven children of God. No one who believes in him will ever be put to shame!Support the show

Feeling stressed? You're not alone. Anxiety is something everyone deals with to some degree. In fact anxiety is at an all-time high. In this chaotic, uncertain world, there are lots of reasons why. The good news is lots of people in the Bible struggled with anxiety too. Yet, operating from a full-time place of anxiety isn't great for you. Anxiety doesn't accomplish anything fruitful. And the truth is God has a better path forward for facing life's challenges and uncertainties. As one Christian author writes, "The presence of anxiety is unavoidable, but the prison of anxiety is optional. Anxiety comes with life. But it doesn’t have to dominate your life."  Support the show

"Just do it." "The power is within you." "You have the power to rise above whatever is trying to keep you down." "Go out there and crush it you animal!" Cliches like these are often what you'll find online or in the self-help section of Barnes and Noble. But what happens when you have that gnawing feeling anyway, that feeling that growls, "I'm not enough"? This is the feeling of inadequacy. It's especially prevalent in performance driven places where expectations are high and it can sometimes seem almost impossible to escape. It's what happens when we are told over and over again by our culture that the only person we can truly rely on is ourselves. But what if that's just not true? What if we can face our feelings of inadequacy, admit our absolute need for God's help, and rely on Christ who gives us strength and makes us "enough"? Then even our inadequacy will result in God's glory being displayed to others!Support

Do you ever get frustrated when you do the right thing and in the end it doesn’t change a thing? Reality Check: Do you ever get angry with God? Have you ever felt that it’s just not fair that you do everything by the Book and still struggle, while people who completely disregard the Word and will of God prosper? Check out this young man who did everything right and still couldn’t save his nation. Support the show

When the true LORD, the God of mercy and grace, is removed from the picture, there’s a spiritual vacuum that forms. And it’s amazing—no, it’s frightening—to see what people will fill this vacuum with. Reality Check: What is the Baal worship of today? The “sacrificing of our sons in the fire”? Have we somehow reconstructed the true religion into a religion of our own devising?Support the show

Let go and let God. It should be simple enough. God is in charge. He’ll work everything out for good. Just give all your problems to him. Reality Check:  Doesn’t happen, does it? We worry…and question. This week God’s Word shows us what can happen if we just lay our problems before the Lord.Support the show