Grace Baptist Santa Clarita: Service Podcast

We begin 2019 with a study of missional generosity. Often, the word “generosity” strikes us as giving up something. When we find ourselves being told to be generous, it most often makes us cringe because it will mean parting with something we value. But we all know that’s the wrong way to look at it! We’ve just finished a Christmas season that focused on God’s great generosity to us in sending Jesus, and were reminded in a powerful way that generosity is better understood not as losing something, but as accomplishing something! That’s what missional generosity is ... using what we’ve been given to accomplish something great for the Kingdom of God.

As we end another year, we turn our eyes to 2019 and pray the Lord will use Grace Baptist Church mightily through the coming months. But, knowing that the Lord works both in us and through us, let us fix our minds and hearts to continue growing in likeness to Christ, both personally and as a church family.

When we celebrate the birth of Jesus, we only do so because of the life, death, and resurrection He accomplished. Without His redemptive work His birth would have gone unnoticed. So far, we have traced the promise of God to send Messiah from its beginning. This weekend, we face the ramifications of that promise being fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth. Life’s most important question is this: What must we do? In Acts 2, the Apostle Peter gives us the only correct answer.

We have seen the promise previewed in Genesis 3:15 with the declaration that the “he” would one day deal with the corruption brought into the world through Satan and sin. We have seen the promise expanded in Isaiah 9 where we learned the Promised He would be God Himself, coming in knowledge and power to take the throne of David eternally. This weekend we see the message of an angel from heaven to Mary, Joseph, and the Shepherds, and learn the glorious truth that the Promised He has come. He is Jesus, the Savior, the Messiah, and the Lord of All!

God’s promise to send the “he” in Genesis 3:15 left us with all kinds of questions. Who will “he” be? And how will “he” accomplish the monumental task of righting the wrongs brought into creation and humanity through the sin of Adam? As history rolled on through the ancient ages, God gave clarity in bits and pieces through His prophets. One of the most important expansions of the Promise came through Isaiah in whose writings God Himself answers some of our questions.

As we enter the Christmas season our hearts are once again invited to see the wonderful story of redemption from its humble beginnings, through the prophets’ expansion, and on to it’s guarantee in the birth of the Savior. Over the four weeks of Advent we will trace the glorious promise of God, and be reminded how privileged we are to be the recipients of His glorious grace and faithful love.

The Thanksgiving holiday may be past, but the honor of living out a heart of thankfulness is an everyday privilege for the maturing Christ-follower. This weekend we see how a heart of thankfulness is an essential mark of Christian maturity. In his letter to the Colossian church, Paul first emphasizes the supremacy of Christ and then impresses on his readers that those who are maturing in following Christ will have hearts brimming with thankfulness. Those who are truly becoming more and more like the Savior will find their lives so filled with thanksgiving that they scarcely notice the frustrations of life!

We live in a crazy fast world. And the pace of life too often keeps us from realizing all we are privileged to be and have because we are in Christ. So ... for the next two weekends, join me in taking a break, taking a breath, and fixing our eyes on the God who made us, who rescued and forgave us, and now sees us, and loves us, as His dear and beloved children. Let us enter His presence with thanksgiving so that worthy worship may flow from our lips!

A look back at 2018, and a look forward to 2019.

This weekend we finish the epic “Bread of Life” episode that began with Jesus’ miraculous multiplication of the loaves and fish. In this final segment, we are given a stark look at true discipleship. That is, while some follow Jesus for personal benefit, and others believe in what they want Him to be, true discipleship is more than that. The true Christ-follower is someone who has savingly trusted in Jesus and sworn allegiance to Him as God the Son incarnate, the Holy One of God.

This weekend we come to the stirring conclusion of Jesus’ dialogue with the crowd that had feasted on His multiplied loaves and fish. Once again, He sends shock-waves through them by demanding they “eat His flesh and drink His blood.” While centuries of misunderstanding this statement have divided the church, the meaning is simple: Unless you take Jesus into the very core of your being as the LORD of your life, evidenced through a conspicuously Godly life, you have not entered into eternal life yet.

This weekend, we jump back into the ongoing discussion between Jesus and a crowd who really doesn’t know what to do with Him. He’s done some miraculous things, but also says things that don’t make sense to them. Having had their religious standing judged, they’re now grumbling and sure He is an imposter. But Jesus refuses to allow them to change the subject He is intent on addressing: their unbelieving hearts! And so, once again, He offers them the bread of life that nourishes eternal life!

This weekend we continue our study of Jesus’ “Bread of Life” discourse. This short text is among the most controversial texts in John’s Gospel, but it can be easily understood and prized if we realize just how John is using these arguments. In the face of the crowd’s unbelief, He rests in the sovereign plan of God to save all who will “look on the Son and believe in Him.”

This weekend we begin a four-part study of Jesus' amazing "Bread of Life" discourse. Along the way, we are privileged to see how Jesus interacts with people, taking advantage of conversations to bring the subject around to spiritual realities. The miracle of the loaves and fish form the object lesson for a far greater food; the bread of life God the Father has given the world. And that bread is Jesus!

When Jesus multiplied the molecules in a lad’s lunch of five barley loaves and two fish, He did much more than feed thousands. He dramatically demonstrated that He was the Good Shepherd, a better deliverer than Moses, and the divine Passover Lamb whose flesh and blood nourished all who partook to eternal life. This weekend we begin an exciting journey through one of the most important chapters in John’s Gospel.

We’ve all heard about the little girl who, when asked, “how do you get to heaven?” replied, “I guess you get on the disciple ship!” But, it turns out discipleship is no joke. In fact, it is just another way of saying you are following Christ. But what does that mean? This weekend we ask some important questions about discipleship and ask God the Spirit to help us obey the answers we find.

The essence of healthy church life is worship-driven sacrificial love for one another.

This weekend, we explore leadership at Grace Baptist Church. With leadership comes power, and with power comes great benefit, and great risk! When we align our practice of leadership and the use of power with the Bible’s prescriptions and descriptions, we find God’s paradigm for godly leadership in the church.

This weekend we begin a short series on Church Life. What is a church anyway? And what does it look like to invest in our shared mission of making and multiplying Christ-followers who magnify the glory of God? How is our church led, and what are our core values? We will explore these questions together, but today we begin by asking “What is Grace Baptist Church?”.

In Psalm 61, David finds himself in the midst of a traumatic experience. As David wrestles with his circumstances, we will see how he responds through prayer. The questions before us this week are: “What do I do when I don’t know where God is? Where is my assurance? Where do I draw comfort? How do I get to the Rock that is higher than I?