Christ is the foundation of our faith. We live by faith and not by sight. So many of the heroes of faith did not see what was promised, yet they persevered. Through Christ we have the ability to persevere with the greater hope that we will see what He promised. Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. (Hebrews 11:1) Watch the full service on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/OhnPgGfyF9s Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
May 13, 2024•29 min•Ep. 11
Because of Jesus, His one sacrifice for us is all we need for forgiveness and new life in Him. As we cling to these promises, we encourage each other to hold on to this hope that is found only in Christ. Because Jesus is fully committed to us, we take that and be fully committed also to one another. Verse: For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy…. Therefore, let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. (Hebrews 10:14, 24) Watch...
May 06, 2024•35 min•Ep. 10
This week (April 28) was Discipleship Emphasis Sunday, which involves a Bible Project video and small group discussion, so there is no new talk to share. Please enjoy this old but still relevant talk from 2022, preached by Pastor Paul Sausser. Galatians 6:1-10 In giving a picture of true love for one another, Jesus’ law of love includes carrying each other’s burdens. The church hasn’t always done this well—we can do this better. We need to get humanly close enough to see what those burdens are, ...
Apr 29, 2024•36 min
God wants us to properly consider these small but valuable diamonds in the form of habits and principles, for our Christian life at its highest level. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 This talk is primarily in Spanish, with English interpretation. Watch the full service on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/NZn2MVT1zlM Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Apr 22, 2024•33 min
Heaven is more real than the broken world we see around us. Christ’s sacrifice sets us free to live in his presence, allowing us to start to experience that eternal reality even now in the body of Christ. Hebrews 9:11-14, 23-28 Pastor Matthew Wright joins us as Pastor Paul and Renae are on vacation. Watch the full service on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/Fj0jr-wRgmU Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Apr 15, 2024•27 min
This week, worship began with communion. A short pause is included in the podcast where communion was served before the talk begins. Because of Jesus, we have access to what is better than what this world has to offer. Being the better high priest and offering a better sacrifice, we have access to a better life, a life that has its totality in Jesus. Why would we go back to anything that is inferior? Hebrews 8:1-13 Watch the full service here, including a big announcement from Pastor Paul: https...
Apr 07, 2024•36 min•Ep. 8
The resurrection of Jesus is so profound, such a pivotal point in history, that because of it, everything is different. Because Jesus rose from the dead, He offers us a fresh start as He has the power to change everything! Mark 16:1-8 Watch the full service: https://youtu.be/Q7o7LK9MOOA Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Apr 01, 2024•33 min
At different times in our lives, we all need some sort of rescue. To “be saved” is to “be rescued.” The stories and ceremonies within the Old Testament all point towards the One and the way that Father God would provide rescue—through His selected Lamb. We are saved by the blood of the Lamb. Exodus 12:1-6; John 1:29-31 Watch the full service: https://youtu.be/X2YXgy9d9B4 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Mar 25, 2024•33 min
This week was Discipleship Emphasis Sunday, which involves a Bible Project video and small group discussion, so there is no new talk to share. Please enjoy this old but still relevant talk from 2022, preached by Pastor Paul Sausser. Acts 8:26-40 Our society is highly polarized, especially with political differences. Humans are good at division. Philip and an Ethiopian, who are so different, connect deeply for no other reason than that God is up to something. God, through the work of his Son Jesu...
Mar 17, 2024•36 min
Just as we need mediators in many parts of our lives, we need a spiritual mediator to be the go-between between us and God. In Old Testament times, God provided the High Priest. Now, Jesus is the only High Priest we need to mediate on our behalf before God. He is the only One who clicks all the boxes of what is needed in a spiritual mediator. Hebrews 6:20-7:5, 9-10, 20-27 Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. ...
Mar 11, 2024•39 min•Ep. 7
Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant. Fulfilling the requirements of every priest that ever existed, Jesus became the high priest (the one who offers the sacrifice), the altar (where the sacrifice is made), and the sacrifice (the actual offering) once and for all, for us. He is solid and stable, never moving, so on Him we can place our anchor. Hebrews 6:1a, 4-8, 12-20 Watch the full service here: https://youtu.be/wa1MRFZ6c7g Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informat...
Mar 04, 2024•35 min•Ep. 6
On Discipleship Emphasis Sundays, we have a shorter talk to make time to watch and discuss a video from The Bible Project. Watch this month's video here: https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/priests-of-eden/ Adam and Eve, our first parents, were made in God’s image. As God’s image bearers, they represented God to all of creation, working and worshipping in the Garden, embodying God’s heavenly wisdom and rule on Earth. They were like priests in the Garden, where God’s holy presence resided. Tho...
Feb 27, 2024•20 min•Ep. 1
The role of the High Priest was to be the highest representative of God to His people, and God’s people to God. Because of this, the qualifications of the High Priest were high. Jesus fulfilled all the human qualifications of being a High Priest, but more than that, He was appointed as Father God. Hebrews 4:14-5:10 Watch the full service here: https://youtu.be/0s_7iBX0HWM Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Feb 19, 2024•43 min•Ep. 5
Guest preacher Rev. Matthew Wright joins us for this 4th installment of our Snapshots of Greatness series. Hebrews 4:12-16 The word of God cuts us to the core and lays us bare before our judge. But in Jesus Christ we have a great high priest who has brought our humanity into heaven and represents us before the Father, so we may approach his throne in confidence. Watch the full service: https://youtu.be/y9zUjImB8f8 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Feb 11, 2024•28 min•Ep. 4
In Christ we have a calling to persevere against unbelief. Throughout Israel’s history, the repetitive behavioral pattern of chasing after other gods and forgetting the promises of God is a prominent theme. Through Christ, our hearts of stone can become hearts of flesh—being in communion with Him, and in community with others, to press against the hardening of heart and unbelief. Today's talk is based on Hebrews 3. Watch the full service on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/ybiK5Dk-218 Hoste...
Feb 05, 2024•45 min•Ep. 3
Rev. Peter Gordon shares the work of Jabez Ministries and inspires us to include people with disabilities in leadership and ministry. 1 Chronicles 4:9-10 View the full service on our YouTube channel . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jan 29, 2024•47 min
All Christ has done for us took place because He became one of us to save from ourselves and transform us to be like Him. In Jesus, God is showing us what it is like to be fully human as Jesus wears our skin without our sin. Hebrews 2:9-18 Watch the full service on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/aHMeCD0VjAo Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jan 22, 2024•31 min•Ep. 2
A new year brings a new series: Snapshots of Greatness, in which we'll explore many names and characteristics of Jesus as told in the book of Hebrews. The Living Jesus is all we need to find fulfillment in our lives. Jesus is Father God’s full and final picture of what He wants to reveal about Himself to us. In these opening verses, 9 snapshots of Jesus are given to launch us into seeing His greatness in the rest of this Bible book. Hebrews 1:1-4 Watch the full service on our YouTube channel: ht...
Jan 09, 2024•39 min•Ep. 1
The Bible is full of stories of men and women who had doubts and fears, yet trusted that God was bigger than those doubts and fears. Jesus’ final words were to a group of young men that doubted. Yet they obeyed and God used them to change the world. Will we trust God today in the midst of our own doubts and fears? Matthew 28:16-20 Ryan Waalkes is a long-time friend of Discovery (son-in-law of Pastor Mary Sterenberg) and founder of Bridge Street Ministries. View the full service on our YouTube ch...
Jan 01, 2024•47 min
Christmas is here. We love love stories , and so we might think on this day of the love story between Joseph and Mary. But this day is not about their story, but His love story . Today is about God fulfilling promises to bring His love in His Son down to earth for us. Luke 2:1-20 Watch the full service on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/VRc2QUt2dkU Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Dec 25, 2023•18 min
Christmas is about God’s salvation for us. Strip everything else away from Christmas but this truth, and it will still be a great Christmas. John’s birth tells what this child will do—announce God’s plan of salvation. Zechariah’s song, his response to God’s goodness, is praising our Lord and also proclaiming God’s salvation. The central message of Christmas is God’s great gift of new life through Jesus, given to all who come. Luke 1:57-80 Watch the full service on our YouTube channel: https://yo...
Dec 24, 2023•36 min•Ep. 4
God’s great plan of new life should be responded to by incredible joy—spontaneous joy. The ARRIVAL of Mary at Elizabeth’s place brings joy to their home. Jesus does that to people. Elizabeth is blessed by having this Child and being in a relationship to the mother of the Messiah. Mary breaks into ADORATION about her own happiness and the joy of new life this Child will bring to the world. Luke 1:39-56 Watch the full service on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/WkZBGBJNYcA Hosted on Acast. Se...
Dec 18, 2023•39 min•Ep. 3
God fulfills His promises in miraculous ways that mystify us. When we are confronted with God’s miraculous and mysterious ways, we need to be obedient and accept God’s coming to us—first, in receiving His Christmas gift of a Savior, and second, with a willingness to be used in His service. Luke 1:26-38 Watch the full service on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/mGPFrWmDW_w Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Dec 11, 2023•32 min•Ep. 2
God is not quiet in working His plan to bring salvation and joy through His people to the world. This is the time that God is at work behind the scenes with Zechariah and Elizabeth. The priest Zechariah was placed in a spot to bear the news that God is at work to bring His joy and redemption to humanity. Zechariah’s silence (after he questioned God) is a sign that God has spoken (what irony)—God is at work fulfilling His plan. With this couple, Zechariah and Elizabeth, the preparation for God’s ...
Dec 04, 2023•37 min•Ep. 1
After humanity’s fall in the Garden of Eden, God rescues humanity by focusing on one family to reach the world—Abraham’s family. Through Abraham’s line will come Jesus—the Messiah King. Jacob, Abraham’s grandson, recipient of that covenant, reaps what he sows, as his waywardness passes on to the next generation. Through it all, God shows that He uses imperfect people in His big plan to bless and rescue humanity, and in God’s smaller plan for each of us. Verse: Now Israel loved Joseph more than a...
Nov 27, 2023•36 min•Ep. 6
Thanksgiving is the day we focus on giving thanks to God. We bless Him for the many good things He has given us--can we also give thanks when we find ourselves in difficult times? Psalm 42 Watch the full service: https://youtu.be/WqqD57cBNCU Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Nov 25, 2023•22 min
When God give us direction of a direction—be it a moral choice, a command to obey, a place to live or work or go to school, or a new venture within the kingdom of God—when God gives direction of a specific direction to take, God accomplishes His purposes and God gives His blessing when we make that adjustment and choose to follow Him. Genesis 31:13; 35:1, 5-7 Watch the full service on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/oYRzS6VxEZY Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Nov 20, 2023•35 min•Ep. 5
Genesis 32:22-32 Jacob wrestled and struggled during his life, first in the womb with Esau and later with God. His conniving was seeking something that only God can give, which God gives freely. God blesses Jacob, gives him a new identity, and through Jacob God’s blessing reaches out to the world through Jacob’s descendant—King Jesus. Verse: Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” (Genesis 32:28) W...
Nov 13, 2023•41 min•Ep. 4
Genesis 28:10-22 At an insignificant place, Jacob encounters God directly in a dream. God promises to fulfill His covenantal promise to Abraham by working through Jacob, and, God promises to care for Jacob wherever he goes. Jacob is assured that he has God’s watchful eye and listening ear not only where he had the vision, which Jacob named Bethel, but wherever he would go. Verse : I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you ...
Nov 06, 2023•36 min•Ep. 3
Genesis 25:29-34; 27:5-10 After humanity’s fall in the Garden of Eden, God chose to rescue humanity by focusing on one family to reach the world—the family that would come through Abraham. Through Abraham’s line will come Jesus—the Messiah King. Jacob, Abraham’s grandson, has a role to play in this. He is a conniver who steals the family birthright that God already promised to him. Still, God is greater than sin and is able to work His plan of humanity’s salvation through Jacob’s bad choices. Go...
Oct 31, 2023•39 min•Ep. 2
