Speaker: Mark Slomka
Once you encounter Jesus you can’t travel back the same way you came.
Today’s Scriptures: Matthew 2:1-12
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Speaker: Lorissa Medrano
Living in the light means we love for our family. If we say we are in the light but hate our brothers and sisters then we are really living in darkness.
Today’s Scriptures: 1 John 2:8-11
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Speakers: Mark Slomka, Lorissa & Vince Medrano
Our Pastors each shared a reflection focusing on our Advent Theme: Light of the World.
Today’s Scriptures: John 1:1-5, Matthew 4:16, Revelation 21:22-27
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Speaker: Serene Neddenriep
Today’s Scripture: Luke 1:76-79
“And you, my little son, will be called the prophet of the Most High, because you will prepare the way for the Lord. You will tell his people how to find salvation through forgiveness of their sins. Because of God’s tender mercy, the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide us to the path of peace.”
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Speaker: Vince Medrano
Jesus is the Light of the World. In contrast to walking in darkness, in Him we have hope for where we are being led. Even when tragedy strikes, or when life is uncertain, we know that by following the Light of the world we are being led to life. But we don’t treat Jesus as a means to an end. He’s not merely One that gets us from point A to point B, by following Him we learn to move like Him as we journey.
Today’s Scripture: John 8:12
Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”
Listen to David Crowder Band’s Illuminate album: YouTube, Apple Music, Spotify
If you would like to join us in worshiping the Lord through financial giving to the ministries of Faith Community please click here.
Speaker: Lorissa and Vince Medrano
On this Family Sunday at Faith and week 1 of the Advent calendar we celebrate the Light of the World. When we look at the world around us and wherever we see darkness, pain and turmoil we know that God’s light is breaking into that darkness.
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Speaker: Mark Slomka
As we finish our reflections on Esther we look at some takeaways from this book that will help us navigate our lives today…
Spiritual Practices:
Today we studied Sabbath. For more info on Sabbath, listen to a interview with Pastor AJ Swoboda, author of Subversive Sabbath here.
7th Day Rest. Listen to a 5 part series from the Bible Project on Sabbath.
If you would like to join us in worshiping the Lord through financial giving to the ministries of Faith Community please click here.
Speaker: Rose Males
What we take note of about Esther is how true she stayed to God’s leading in her life. In the face of overwhelming obstacles and her own life being in danger Esther didn’t waiver from her purpose.
Spiritual Practices:
Today we studied Sabbath. For more info on Sabbath, listen to a interview with Pastor AJ Swoboda, author of Subversive Sabbath here.
7th Day Rest. Listen to a 5 part series from the Bible Project on Sabbath.
If you would like to join us in worshiping the Lord through financial giving to the ministries of Faith Community please click here.
Speaker: Lorissa Medrano
There is One who sees what we can’t see and knows what we can’t know. So, when we fear the unknown of the future we can be assured that God works in our deepest places of darkness.
If you would like to join us in worshiping the Lord through financial giving to the ministries of Faith Community please click here.
Speaker: Vince Medrano
There is significance in lament. We lament because our hearts are not callous to tragedy. We’re aware of tragedy and feel the weight of it. This is what Jesus shows us in the incarnation. He is intimately aware of the tragedy we face. So as followers of Jesus, we won’t rush past tragedy but we’ll cry out in it. Our spirit will cry out to God’s Spirit: things are broken, Your people are overwhelmed, the world is not how it should be.
The movement of peace needs to embrace mourning. Mourning causes an awareness of a world of suffering that is beyond our own experience. We’re mindful of how others are walking through suffering.
Speaker: Lorissa Medrano
We continue our series in the book of Esther. In chapter 3 we reach the point of the story when all hope seems lost, and evil seems sure to win. What do we do in these moments when God seems absent, and darkness seems all around us?
Speaker: Mark Slomka
In a book where God’s name is never mentioned, no miracle recorded, no prophecy given, or no prayer recited what are we to discover? In a book where Jews have names after the national gods and marry pagans while in morally compromising situations, what are we meant to think?! In fact there is nothing in chapter 2 and that is precisely why we need to learn the lessons God has for us from this chapter…
Speaker: Vince Medrano
The unique thing observed about the book of Esther is that God’s name is never mentioned yet we see God’s providence in the big picture of the story. We notice that the sum of all actions show a God who is active.
But we’ll notice that it’s a little harder to see God in the moments He’s not explicitly mentioned. It’s the same in our lives… we can look back over the course of 10 years and see the goodness of God, it’s harder to stop in the middle of a Thursday afternoon and discern God’s presence in that moment.
In this morning’s moment we’ll observe how man’s power, plans and perspective when used for self seeking pleasure will be shown as absurd.
Speaker: Vince Medrano
We conclude our stay in the Book of Ruth with a look at the theme of Redemption. The Bible introduces us to Kinsman-Redeemers: “The relative who restores or preserves the full community rights of disadvantaged family members.” And, the Book of Ruth provides one of the most unique and detailed pictures of the Kinsman-Redeemer in the every day life of God’s people. As we close out our series today, we’ll discuss: the role of the redeemer, the need for a redeemer, our pursuit of the redeemer and our participation in redemption.
Speaker: Lorissa Medrano
In our second week of the Book of Ruth we explored the theme of Loving Kindness. The Hebrew word for this Loving Kindness is Hesed: which is to love as God loves.
Speaker: Walter Lam
In addition to today’s sermon we featured Alliance for African Assistance led by Walter Lam, a refugee, with the aim of addressing the many needs of San Diego’s growing African refugee population. The Alliance assists, by means of generous contributions and grants, new arrivals in adjusting to American culture. The Alliance for African Assistance has remained unceasing in its dedication to provide social, cultural, and educational support and guidance to all refugees in their resettlement process.
Assistance includes preparing host families; securing safe and affordable housing, help with rent and transportation, health screenings, enrolling children in school, English language classes and translation services, and job assistance and training. We have successfully resettled more than 12,700 refugees from Somalia, Sudan, Congo, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Ethiopia, Liberia, Eritrea, Vietnam, Iran, Kosovo, Bosnia, Iraq, Burma, Afghanistan, Syria, and Russia.
Speaker: Mark Slomka
In our 3rd week in the Book of Ruth we consider the powerful impact a surrendered life can have for generations to come and the grace of God that positions us to participate in extending his redemptive presence towards others. Here we see that God uses both the rich and the poor the advance His Kingdom presence in our world today…
Speaker: Lorissa Medrano
In our second week of the Book of Ruth we looked at God as the God of refuge. What are the implications for followers of Christ in how we care for those seeking refuge?
Today’s Scripture: Ruth 1-2:12
Speaker: Vince Medrano
In our first week of the Book of Ruth we looked at the incredible endurance of Naomi. We also visited the theme of faithfulness, exploring how God shows his faithfulness to unexpected characters in unexpected places to care for His people.
Today’s Scripture: Ruth 1-4
Speaker: Vince Medrano
We set aside the morning to pray for our students and educators as they begin the new school year. We were encouraged to remember Jesus’ words to not be anxious about tomorrow but to consider the birds of the air and the flowers of the field. If He provides and cares for them, then how much more provision and care be lovingly extended to us?
