God's Word preached.

Text: Romans 1:16-17 Speaker: Steve Black -- How can anyone be made right with God? Paul declares that the Gospel alone has the power to save—revealing a righteousness that comes not by moral effort or good works, but by faith in Christ alone. In today's message, we consider Paul's uncovering of how justification is a gift from God, received through simple trust in Jesus, and how salvation...

Text: Ecclesiastes 7:7–10 Speaker: Tony de la Riva -- True wisdom refuses to put a price tag on integrity, and the wise person plays the long game instead of calling it quits before things develop. These two truths are the first of four in a "string of pearls" found in Ecclesiastes 7:7–10. They remind us that true wisdom stays the course when temptation presses in on us, and that biblica...

Text: Ecclesiastes 7:2–6 Speaker: Tony de la Riva -- Ecclesiastes 7:2–6 confronts our pleasure-driven culture with a stark truth: Wisdom grows not in laughter and entertainment, but in sorrow and sober reflection. Solomon reminds us that funerals are better than parties because the house of mourning teaches lessons no feast ever could—lessons about mortality, eternity, and what truly matters befor...

Text: Ecclesiastes 7:2–6 Speaker: Tony de la Riva -- In an age dominated by endless amusement and instant gratification, sober-mindedness is not only wise, but urgently necessary for anyone who wants to live for Christ. In this message, we will consider how a culture obsessed with entertainment has lost its capacity for clear thinking, meaningful relationships, and spiritual focus—a trend visible...

Text: Ecclesiastes 7:1 Speaker: Tony de la Riva -- Solomon opens Ecclesiastes 7 by turning our usual thinking on its head by forcing us to ask two surprising questions: Why is having character worth more than all the money in the world? And how can death possibly be better than birth? The answer is found in a transformed life and then eternal life after—both of which only come through faith in Chr...

Text: Ecclesiastes 6:10–12 Speaker: Tony de la Riva -- Life under the sun confronts us with the hard limits of our knowledge, our mortality, and our inability to control life. However, in the midst of these sobering limitations, Solomon points us past our aimless, arrogant striving toward humble faith in the One who alone can redeem us from the bondage of ignorance, impotence, and death. -- Woodla...

Text: Ecclesiastes 6:7–9 Speaker: Tony de la Riva -- In today's passage, we see a man who appears to have it all—money, wealth, fame, a long life, and even many children. But in reality he's a man who has nothing, because he's spent his life living for himself and sacrificing everything and everyone around him—including his own soul—on the altar of his own selfish agenda. To the mind o...

Text: Isaiah 29:20–21 Speaker: Tony de la Riva -- On Wednesday, September 10, 2025, Charlie Kirk was assassinated at Utah Valley University, just outside of Salt Lake City. This seemingly watershed event marks the most significant assassination of its kind in the United States in half a century. In today's message, our aim is to think biblically about the murder of Charlie Kirk and, more broad...

Text: Ecclesiastes 6:1–6 Speaker: Tony de la Riva -- In today's passage, we see a man who appears to have it all—money, wealth, fame, a long life, and even many children. But in reality he's a man who has nothing, because he's spent his life living for himself and sacrificing everything and everyone around him—including his own soul—on the altar of his own selfish agenda. To the mind o...

Text: Selected Scriptures Speaker: Tony de la Riva -- How much should I give? Does Scripture command tithing, or giving 10%? Is it biblical to give online? Why are so many churches doing away with an offering? These are just some of the questions that many Christians have about the matter of giving. In this fourth and final message in our "Basics" series, we'll consider the what, the...

Text: Selected Scriptures Speaker: Tony de la Riva -- According to God's Word, there is a direct connection between spiritual growth and the church. Christians do not grow in Christ-likeness through mysticism, self-effort, or even "personal devotions," but through the means that God himself has appointed for our growth. Those means are found in the ordinary aspects of body life in a...

Text: 1 Corinthians 12:12-26 Guest speaker: Pastor Lloyd Murphy of Firm Foundation Bible Church in Prescott Valley, AZ -- The most vivid and common analogy for the church in the New Testament is the body of Christ. Pregnant with meaning and implication, this analogy reflects God's profound and intentional design of the members of Christ's body. Each follower of Christ is uniquely positione...

Text: Selected Scriptures Speaker: Tony de la Riva -- Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 4:2 that "It is required of stewards that they be found faithful." A steward is someone who has been entrusted with something, and it is essential that he or she be a person who can be trusted and who is faithful with what has been placed in their care. As New Covenant believers who are saved by grace alon...

Text: Selected Scriptures Speaker: Tony de la Riva -- When it comes to the local church, church leadership is a foundational matter. It is crucially important that Christians understand what elders are and what their responsibilities are. In this first message in our summer "Basics" series, we look at the matter of pastoral leadership and what the Bible has to say about it. -- Woodland P...

Text: Ecclesiastes 5:18–20 Speaker: Tony de la Riva -- Eating, drinking, working, and virtually every aspect of normal human life is good. That is because God is good, and he gives good things to his creatures, and his will is that we enjoy them. Why then are so many people so dissatisfied with life? The answer is not in their circumstances, but in their perspective. Miserable people are focused o...

Text: Ecclesiastes 5:13–17 Speaker: Tony de la Riva -- There’s a tragically familiar pattern that has repeated itself throughout human history—one described by Solomon in Ecclesiastes 5:13–17: the devastating loss of wealth. But that’s not the worst part. The true tragedy lies in the fact that those who lose everything are often the very ones who spent their entire lives chasing what they ultimate...

Text: Ecclesiastes 5:10-12 Speaker: Tony de la Riva -- There is nothing new under the sun. That includes humanity's dysfunctional relationship with money and material wealth. What this should clearly teach us is that poverty is not the only trial associated with money. Prosperity is a trial as well, and it comes with its own unique set of temptations and opportunities to sin that poverty does...

Text: Ecclesiastes 5:8-9 Speaker: Tony de la Riva -- In Solomon's day, three-thousand years ago, good economic policy looked like a king staying out of his citizens' hair and protecting them instead of trying to control them. In the West in 2025, that's still the case. God has designed government to do one thing: bear the sword for the protection of its people and the peace of society....

Text: Ecclesiastes 5:8-9 Speaker: Tony de la Riva -- It should come as no surprise that Scripture deals with economic policy. After all, Jesus is Lord over all creation, and the great goal of the Christian life is being conformed to the image of Christ, which includes having a biblical worldview. The more biblically Christians think about everything—including government and economics—the more oppo...

Text: Ecclesiastes 5:4-7 Speaker: Tony de la Riva -- God calls his people to walk in integrity and to keep their word. Empty words and broken promises—no matter how well-intended or how spiritual they appear—are foolish, sinful, and a warning sign of a lack of saving faith. This is why the Word of God holds out such severe threats to those who lack integrity. But for those in Christ, God's jud...

Text: Ecclesiastes 5:1-3 Speaker: Tony de la Riva -- 'A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in airing his own opinions' (Proverbs 18:2). In other words, wise people are learners, but fools love to hear themselves talk. In the context of the local church, this means that Christians should draw near in a spirit of wisdom and humility—to receive from God and to be edified throug...

Text: Ecclesiastes 4:13-16 Speaker: Tony de la Riva -- It's surprising when a government leader claims to be able to solve the world's problems. It's even more surprising when a government leader actually believes that he can. But what is most surprising of all is how people continue to put their hopes in political saviors. Throughout all human history, fewer things are more obvious than governmen...

Text: Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 Speaker: Tony de la Riva -- We live in a day and age that is hostile toward relationships. People don’t see it that way, of course, but when we view social structures as threats to our personal happiness, relationships become our enemies whether we like it or not. Yet, in spite of the anti-social impulse of our world today, people are incurably relational. We need relatio...

Text: Ecclesiastes 4:7-8 Speaker: Tony de la Riva -- "As long as you put yourself first, you're always going to be lonely and miserable." This statement reflects the underlying principles that are at work in the life of the workaholic, whom we find in today's text. Tragically, however, the workaholic's situation is only one of many in which those principles show up. As it tur...

Text: Ecclesiastes 4:7-12 Speaker: Tony de la Riva -- There is a crisis of meaning in our society today. On the one hand, people are struggling like never before to find meaning in life. But on the other hand, we're under the delusion that meaning is something we get to decide—as if reality doesn't have a predefined meaning or purpose. At the heart of that crisis is the battle for a biblic...