Divine Savior Church-Sienna

As you run your race, what do you find vital and essential in your life? What do you need - more than anything else? Can you find it here, in church, in the ashes, in the religious motions, rites, and ceremonies we employ and practice? Maybe, the better question to ask is what don’t you need? Of what do you need to let go, give up? Guilt, shame, fear. Let Jesus take them. He is what you need. Find...

Anxiety is prevalent in so many people today. Worrisome thoughts fill our minds and it leads to a bodily response. As Christians, God’s Word tells us again and again not to be anxious and not to worry. Why? Because  we have a God who is in control. More than that, we get to call this God Father. Just like a loving father  protects, provides, and loves his children, our Heavenly Father protects, pr...

We’re going to talk about sex! But it’s not going to be a shameful, embarrassing conversation. God loves sex. He created it and designed it for our enjoyment. He loves it when we enjoy sex the way he designed it. But good sex takes work. It’s not quite as movies and TV and porn represent it. Sex is a beautiful gift from God that can bring amazing blessings, but its power can also bring harm and pa...

Depression feels so overwhelming. Many times, there’s the feeling of having no hope. Here, we see the psalmist feel despair, his soul thirsting for the Lord. But then he talks to himself. Why am I so down? Even in this desperate situation, he is my Savior and my God.  If only that was the silver bullet. However, depression can be like a yo-yo; wrestling match in the mind. One minute we know our ho...

How do Christians participate in the transgender conversation? How does God want Christians to feel about the topic, and more importantly, the people? Too often, the topic of transgender makes us think about ideologies, progressive societal trends, and angry debates. But what about people? How can we help people who struggle with transgender feelings? How does the gospel apply to this issue? God’s...

Families continue to be torn and ripped apart by sin - marriage struggles, forms of emotional or physical abuse, destructive parenting - it seems so hard to have a good, functional, loving, compassionate home life. The damage can last decades, even generations. Yet, God designed and created humanity for family function and family joy. How can we recapture that joy. Forgiveness. Compassion. And har...

We live in a country of extremes. How many of us have seen online posts that rip apart those with opposing political views? We tend to avoid politics in conversations because we know how fast such a topic can cause anger to flare quickly, even between Christians. But what would it look like if we loved across the aisle? What if our focus was less about proving our political points and more about p...

As we celebrate Baptism Sunday, we rejoice that our true identity as children of God is a divine gift through baptism, not a self-made achievement. Baptism, empowered by God’s Word, welcomes us into God’s family and grants us a new, unshakeable identity beyond our achievements or status. Unlike our culture that insists on earning worth through personal success, we find our true value at the cross...

Who gets the final say in your life? That question is a matter of authority. In a culture where we are raised to live out our truth, the Bible calls us to the exact opposite. We conform ourselves to the truth of God’s Word. That’s what it means to call Jesus Lord. Support the show ~ Changing lives with Jesus! Facebook | YouTube Instagram @dscsienna

What is Christmas for? Christmas is for family – travels, reunions, people gathered at the table for meals that feed the body and conversations that warm the heart and souls. Christmas is for decorations – the lights that line our rooftops, figures and scenes that take residence in our lawns, ornaments that hang and sway from our tree branches, ribbons, and garland, and candles filled with the sce...

What is Christmas for? Christmas is for family – travels, reunions, people gathered at the table for meals that feed the body and conversations that warm the heart and souls. Christmas is for decorations – the lights that line our rooftops, figures and scenes that take residence in our lawns, ornaments that hang and sway from our tree branches, ribbons, and garland, and candles filled with the sce...

What is Christmas for? Christmas is for family – travels, reunions, people gathered at the table for meals that feed the body and conversations that warm the heart and souls. Christmas is for decorations – the lights that line our rooftops, figures and scenes that take residence in our lawns, ornaments that hang and sway from our tree branches, ribbons, and garland, and candles filled with the sce...

What is Christmas for? Christmas is for family – travels, reunions, people gathered at the table for meals that feed the body and conversations that warm the heart and souls. Christmas is for decorations – the lights that line our rooftops, figures and scenes that take residence in our lawns, ornaments that hang and sway from our tree branches, ribbons, and garland, and candles filled with the sce...

Where have you been before?  What is your background and experiences?  These questions serve in evaluating candidates for leadership. They help us form our opinions, and the stronger the background and experiences, the better.  What we celebrate at Christmastime is the one whose background and experience answer all our questions and give us security and peace.  The one we worship and adore is bego...

When your leader is strong, you are strong. When your leader is weak, fear and despair overtake his followers, because there will always be enemies and adversity. Fear and despair creeps into our lives because of the adversity and unknowns we face, but God calls you to rejoice, shout aloud, and sing, because your leader is a mighty warrior. Jesus came as an infant, lowly, and humble, yes, but he w...

The anticipation of a new leader comes with new expectations for those who follow.  Are we prepared in our own hearts to welcome the one for whom we prepare?  God’s expectations stand for all time – they don’t change. Which means, we must change. All change is hard. This change is impossible – for us. Thank God his grace and mercy never change. He sends the refiner – the one who applies the heat s...

Lineage matters. Family trees tell us of the values and strengths. We might look at family members of the past to gain an understanding of a person in the present, and especially their pedigree when it comes to leadership. What if the family tree leaves much to be desired. What if there is weakness and immorality and brokenness there. This was the case with the family tree of the royal line of Dav...

“Eyes on the prize.” That axiom stresses that when pursuing some good goal, focus is important. You don’t want distractions or a lack of self-discipline to keep you from obtaining whatever that prize might be. “Eyes on the prize.” You summon the willpower to fixate on that good thing. You let nothing divert your attention from obtaining the prize. The prize that we want most is spending eternity w...

Have you ever experienced that uncomfortable feeling that others are watching you, trying to find something to criticize? We don’t want others judging us. It is bad enough listening to the voice inside our own head, whispering that we aren’t worthy. How do we overcome the fear of judgment? It begins by realizing that there is only one person whose opinion ultimately matters—the Judge. Everyone is...

Perhaps you have heard the axiom, “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.” In other words, while you still can, use what you have in order to enjoy life to the fullest. If this life is all there is, St. Paul agrees that would be a good philosophy. Paul wrote, “If the dead are not raised, ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die’” (1 Corinthians 15:32). However, note the “if.” Paul was sa...

“It will get better.” We say that to try to comfort someone who is having a bad day (or maybe a whole string of bad days). Perhaps tomorrow will be better. But perhaps it’s worse. In this life, there really are no guarantees that things will get better. That isn’t the case with the life that is to come. That life isn’t just going to be better. It will be perfect. Support the show ~ Changing lives...

Jesus repeatedly told his followers that living as his disciples would bring hardship. Living life according to God’s Law is going to make one appear odd in the eyes of the world, perhaps even evil. Sharing a message of mankind’s sin and God’s gracious salvation can cause offense. So why not just stay silent if that makes life easier? Why not keep our faith private? Answer: because we are going to...

One of the easiest ways to make our problems worse is to dwell on ourselves and make everything center around ourselves – make our life all about ourselves. It might seem counter-intuitive, but the way life works better is when we make life about God… because life is about God. With some of the most powerful words in Scripture, God reminds Job that the universe doesn’t revolve around Job. It revol...

Is it OK to question God? Why have you received nothing you wanted from Him? Why has He let such awful things happen to you or those you love? Or to anyone in the world? Isn’t there a limit to what He will let you endure? Do you feel guilty if you are questioning God or something God is doing? Does questioning God mean you lost your faith in Him? Is there a difference between having questions for...

Do you feel like you are in complete control of everything? Or does your life sometimes feel out of control? And if we aren’t in control, who is? When we come to the realization that we aren’t in control, it becomes very important how we answer the question of who or what our God really is. Is our God in control? Is He able to control our lives? Do we worship Him only to get good things from Him a...