Divine Savior Church-Sienna

Are our hearts divided? When it comes to our love for God, we’d say, “Absolutely not!” Wouldn’t we? Reality Check: Yet, is it possible that, while we are zealous for God, we are still holding on to our own personal idols? Thank God for a Savior who loved and served the Lord alone! Support the show ~ Changing lives with Jesus! Facebook | YouTube Instagram @dscsienna

How we detest people who are all into themselves. And yet, we often fail to detect the many ways selfishness manifests itself in our own lives. Reality Check: As long as we live we’re going to battle the part of us that’s stuck on ourselves. The answer is found in the self-sacrificing love of God in Christ.  Support the show ~ Changing lives with Jesus! Facebook | YouTube Instagram @dscsienna

Are control issues and power struggles limited to those in positions of authority? Reality Check: Take a look at the people you work with. Watch your kids at the playground. These are real issues we all deal with. Yet, why are we grasping for power and control when God’s already got everything in hand? Support the show ~ Changing lives with Jesus! Facebook | YouTube Instagram @dscsienna

Out of all the habits we’ve talked about, which is the most important? The truth is that while everything we’ve talked about in this series is important, there is only “one thing that is needed” according to Jesus himself. This is meant to be a great comfort to every disciple, including us. Why? Because the “one thing that is needed” is not our giving. It’s not our doing. It’s simply our receiving...

“Is there something I can pray about for you right now?” This is a powerful question to ask not just because almost everyone has something serious going on in their life. It’s powerful also because God promises to hear our prayers! A healthy spiritual life is kind of like breathing. We breathe in deeply and receive from God the “oxygen of faith” – the Gospel. Then we breathe out and talk to God wh...

One way we see the love of Jesus is in how he interacted with people from all segments of society. He talked with them. He listened to them. He asked them questions. He taught them. Our human tendency is to be comfortable only with people from our social circles, those we would happily already call our friends. Perhaps this is why “talk to people” is something we need to, well, talk about in churc...

Life can be extremely difficult sometimes. That is true even for disciples of Jesus. Yet difficult circumstances in life often provide excellent opportunities to show the love of Christ by doing good to others. Jesus showed love and did good, so we reflect Christ by showing love and doing good even though our best efforts will always be imperfect. Yet even our imperfect efforts, when motivated by...

Disciples are those who are connected to Jesus Christ by faith even though we could never do anything to deserve this. Yet just like with his first disciples, Jesus sends us out to share this good news with others so that they might become his disciples too. The power to do this is not in ourselves. It is in the promises of God who is at work through us. So where and how are we to do this? It star...

“What is a disciple? “Am I a disciple?” These are important questions for those who seek to follow Jesus. While the resurrection of Jesus on Easter changes our entire outlook on death and the life to come, we also need to ask ourselves, “What does it change for my life right now if I’m going to call myself a Christian or a disciple of Jesus?” As we answer this question we’ll see that being a disci...

It's an emotional life. Nothing hits our emotions harder than death. Yet, there is a remarkable emotion that Easter gives us even in the face of death: joy. Joy because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and what his resurrection promises us.  Support the show ~ Changing lives with Jesus! Facebook | YouTube Instagram @dscsienna

If there's one thing that is sure in this world, it is the fear of death. No matter who we are, death is coming for all of us and it is terrifying. Many people spend lots of money looking for anyway to prevent death. We look to those earthly saviors hoping and praying that we can keep death at a distance. While they may prevent death, they can never save from death. We need a Savior to defeat...

The disciples wanted a Savior who was going to bring power and rule with authority. Since they were Jesus' loyal followers, they would of course have access to some special places next to Jesus where they would have some power as well. That's the Savior we want. A powerful one that will bring earthly power and influence. We want one that will be glorified here, rule here, and have power...

What the man needed in John 9 was obvious. He was born blind and needed to be healed so he could see. However, the man had an even greater need: forgiveness of his sins. As we consider the needs we have, the list is pretty long. How great would it be to have a Savior that takes care of all our needs? Often times we want a genie more than a Savior. However, what we find in Jesus is a Savior we need...

The woman at the well was lost. She was searching for something or someone to quench the thirst of her soul. She searched for so long that she was now lost. We know what its like to go searching for something to quench the desire of our hearts, but nothing ever does. Like this woman, we eventually get lost and we don't know where to look. The good news? We have a Savior who has been searching...

In any great story, there's always a villain, victims that he takes captive, and a hero. Every story depicts the hero physically conquering the villain in order to free the people. Sometimes that's what we think we need, isn't it? Wouldn't it be better if the devil wasn't around to tempt us and cause terror in our lives? Wouldn't it be great if Jesus destroyed the dev...

We are often afraid to approach people and have a tough conversation because we don't want to upset them or hurt them. God is unwilling to avoid the hard conversations with us, because he knows it is important to rescue us.  Support the show ~ Changing lives with Jesus! Facebook | YouTube Instagram @dscsienna

The love of money and what it can buy can be destructive, but the shrewd use of the resources God gives can bring immeasurable blessing. God wants us to be rich in good deeds and generous. Support the show ~ Changing lives with Jesus! Facebook | YouTube Instagram @dscsienna

Motivated by Jesus’ life for them, the early believers naturally lived hospitable lives, sharing their possessions, meeting in their homes, showing what God looks like. And others took notice. Support the show ~ Changing lives with Jesus! Facebook | YouTube Instagram @dscsienna

Dorcas demonstrates what a God-lived life looks like. She lived for others and the people saw God’s love in her. They showed the apostles the “robes and other clothing” she had made for them. What are your “robes and other clothing” —the ways that show you are living Jesus’ love? Support the show ~ Changing lives with Jesus! Facebook | YouTube Instagram @dscsienna

Work has been hard for us ever since our first parents rebelled against God. Work has caused sweat and stress ever since we were kicked out of Eden. Sabbath is the opportunity to return to Eden. To the rest of God. Sabbath is about being free from slavery. God has set his people free from slavery, from being driven by taskmasters. Sabbath is the refusal to go back to Egypt. Sabbath is being human...

Time is so important to us. Seconds are ticking off the clock while you read this. We are people of calendars, dates, times, schedules. We are driven to get as much done in the time we are given. But do we actually leave time to do what matters? If someone needs you to pray with them, do you have time to do it? Sometimes our drivenness erodes our purposefulness. No one lived with a higher and grea...

The worst thing busyness does to us is fool us into thinking we are God. “All depends on me. How will all the right things happen at the right time if I am not working, pushing, pulling, watching, and worrying?” Unless we trust that God is in control, we won’t dare risk Sabbath…rest. In sleep, we become utterly vulnerable, completely defenseless, totally dependent. Not in control. That kind of tru...

We are always busy. We are always in a hurry. And since we are always in a hurry, we miss important things. We think our busyness and efficiency in getting to everything helps us experience more, but we actually experience less. We try to do it all and end up really doing nothing When we get too busy, we either dread things or rush to get done with them and check them off a list. We get bored with...

Most of us feel completely wiped out. Endless demands on our time crush us. Even our “vacations” are manic. If we only had more time! We have forgotten the ancient wisdom of Sabbath, rooted in God’s own rhythm of work and rest. Sabbath means rest. The gift of Sabbath (rest) is essential to our full humanity and faith. Since God knows that, and also knows how easily we might neglect it, made it a c...

This Christmas, are you excited to have a moment of reprieve from everything that has tired and frustrated you? Are you ready to set aside the tension caused by politics, race, and viruses? We plan to forget and hide it with tinsel, trees, lights, and gifts. Is that enough?  Experience true peace this Christmas. This peace isn’t' for the moment of the day or even the year. This is for all tim...