God's Word preached.

Text: Philippians 4:13 -- Speaker: Tony de la Riva -- Philippians 4:13 is often treated like a promise of personal success. But in the context, Paul is talking specifically about the ability to be content in every circumstance and the grace to honor Christ whether in plenty or in need. He can do that, he says, because he can do “all things”—he can be obedient, patient, humble, thankful, selfless,...

Text: 1 Corinthians 10:31 -- Speaker: Tony de la Riva -- It's common to hear 1 Corinthians 10:31 quoted as an altruistic, abstract goal. Sometimes it's even used as a justification for any and every practice—both in the church and in the lives of individual Christians. As long as we think that we're glorifying God, then whatever we're doing must be good. But what does 1 Corinthians...

Text: Matthew 7:1–5 -- Speaker: Tony de la Riva -- What does Jesus actually mean when He says, “Do not judge”? Is He forbidding all moral discernment, or is He exposing the hypocrisy of people who—to borrow the words of puritan Richard Sibbes—are severe on others but gentle with themselves? When Jesus' actual words are considered, it's clear that He's not at all forbidding every moral...

Text: Psalm 42 -- Speaker: Lloyd Murphy -- What do you do when grief makes Romans 8:28 sound empty and your soul feels like it's either drying up or drowning? Psalm 42 gives the wounded believer words for both the pain and the answer: honest lament, the grit of self-exhortation, and renewed hope in God. The fight of faith is often fought by simply preaching truth to your own heart and waiting...

Text: Matthew 28:18–20 -- Speaker: Tony de la Riva -- Jeremiah 29:11 can be found everywhere nowadays—from stickers to notebooks to 'girl-boss' Instagram account feeds. But what does it actually mean? Is it a blanket promise of personal success, or something else? When Jeremiah is allowed to speak for himself, the message is clear: God loves mercy, but he will not compromise his character...

Text: Jeremiah 29:11 -- Speaker: Tony de la Riva -- Jeremiah 29:11 can be found everywhere nowadays—from stickers to notebooks to 'girl-boss' Instagram account feeds. But what does it actually mean? Is it a blanket promise of personal success, or something else? When Jeremiah is allowed to speak for himself, the message is clear: God loves mercy, but he will not compromise his character fo...

Text: Ecclesiastes 8:16–17 -- Speaker: Tony de la Riva -- The answer to life’s meaning cannot be found within the created order—not under a microscope, not in self-discovery, not in human wisdom, not in self-created spirituality. This is not to say that meaning doesn't exist, but it  is  to say that God has intentionally blocked our natural access to it. If fallen humanity is going to find mea...

Text: Ecclesiastes 8:16–17 -- Speaker: Tony de la Riva -- God has put the question of eternity in our hearts, but He has not put the answer there. As a result, we are restless, relentless meaning-makers—always asking, always searching, always seeking, never finding. Man's endless search for meaning is taken as proof that truth doesn't exist. In reality, it's the proof that we're li...

Text: Ecclesiastes 8:15 -- Speaker: Tony de la Riva -- Wait a minute… God commands an attitude of joy in the midst of a world where sin keeps succeeding, injustice is the norm, and life is full of disappointment and frustration? That's outrageous! And yet, that's exactly what He does. The believer is not called to deny the pain of life "under the sun," but to receive God’s provid...

Text: Ecclesiastes 8:12–14 -- Speaker: Tony de la Riva -- Job is the very first book of the Bible to be written. Surprisingly, its message is that God is not karma. God is not simply handing out good and bad results according to what we do. The reality is much deeper: God is sovereign, just, and good. The good things in the world are the proof of that—but shockingly, so is the evil. God uses suffe...

Text: Ecclesiastes 8:11 -- Speaker: Tony de la Riva -- When there is no punishment for crime, people commit more of it. Those are the cold, hard facts about fallen human nature. It also shows God's design for government. Civil government 'bears the sword' for the sole purpose of punishing crime and protecting its citizens (Romans 13:1–5). When it fails to do that, people are encouraged...

Text: Matthew 28:16–20 -- Speaker: Don Sharp -- The Great Commission is not an optional extra for a few especially zealous Christians. It is Christ’s command to His whole church. Jesus sends His people into the world to make disciples, baptize them, teach them to obey everything He commanded, and do it all with confidence in His ongoing presence. The church is called not merely to gather but to go...

Text: Hebrews 12:1–2 -- Speaker: Tony de la Riva -- Salvation does not exempt Christians from the common troubles of life. When believers are weighed down by trials, what we need is not positive thinking or self-determination. We need a Savior who has endured the cross, who sees the glory on the other side, and who reigns at God’s right hand, always praying for us. Because Jesus will finish the fa...

Text: John 3:16 -- Speaker: Tony de la Riva -- John 3:16 is often thought to be about who Jesus died for or about man's ability to believe. In reality, it doesn't talk about either of those ideas, but what it does talk about is the love of God and what it accomplishes. God loved the world in this way: he gave his Son with the result that believing sinners receive eternal life. What John 3:...

Text: Ecclesiastes 8:10 -- Speaker: Tony de la Riva -- Counterfeits always look and feel like the real thing. This is why false faith is so dangerous. Jesus warned that many who call him “Lord, Lord!” today will be exposed as strangers to him on the Day of his appearing. Genuine salvation is not measured by religious activity or experiences, but by a changed life that bears lasting fruit—such as f...

Text: Ecclesiastes 8:2–9 -- Speaker: Tony de la Riva -- God has designed government to do one thing: punish evil and protect life. The reality, however, is that sin has turned this good institution into one of the most common sources of violence and oppression. As our culture shifts, our laws shift, and the Christian increasingly faces a hard question: When do we submit to government, and when doe...

Text: Ecclesiastes 8:2–9 -- Speaker: Tony de la Riva -- God has designed government to do one thing: punish evil and protect life. The reality, however, is that sin has turned this good institution into one of the most common sources of violence and oppression. As our culture shifts, our laws shift, and the Christian increasingly faces a hard question: When do we submit to government, and when doe...

Text: Titus 1:1–3 -- Guest speaker: Chanton Petersen -- Why should we come to the fellowship of the saints when they gather corporately? If God is both glorious and satisfied in Himself, why does He call us out to spend eternity with Him? Why does God intensely pursue our holiness? The answer to these questions is ultimately found in the promise made by the Father to the Son before the foundations...

Text: Ecclesiastes 8:1 -- Speaker: Tony de la Riva -- Some people see life with true clarity, yet are crushed by what they see. Others love Christ but still think and react like the world around them. True wisdom is something different altogether. When faith in Jesus and a thoroughly biblical way of thinking meet, a person not only sees reality as God sees it, but they walk through it with steady,...

Text: Ecclesiastes 7:27–29 Speaker: Tony de la Riva -- Explanations abound for what’s wrong with the world: bad systems, bad leaders, or some particular group—maybe liberals, or Christians, or Jews, or men in general. The real reason, however, is that people are sinners, and that includes all of us. No fact in existence is more obvious, yet none is as ignored or as unacceptable. God made human bei...

Text: Ecclesiastes 7:25–26 Speaker: Tony de la Riva -- Sexual immorality has become the air we breathe in the culture today. Finding it requires no effort; it's avoiding it that takes work. Scripture warns that slavery to sexual sin is “more bitter than death,” because it erodes life, hollows out the mind and the soul, and ends in eternal destruction. Jesus exposes the monstrosity of sexual im...

Text: Ecclesiastes 7:21–24 Speaker: Tony de la Riva -- Do you really see yourself clearly? According to God's Word, our biggest problem is not “out there” but in the mirror. You and I are fallen, finite, and deeply sinful. When we understand this the way God wants to, the result is not humiliation, but humility and patience toward others, who are no different than we are. A realistic view of s...

Text: Ephesians 2:13 Speaker: Troy McMillan -- Sinners who were once far from God can draw near to God through the blood of Christ. That is Paul's message. By His sacrifice, Jesus breaks down every barrier between God and man and unites His people in one body. The contrast between our former hopelessness apart from Christ and our new life in Christ magnifies the riches of God’s mercy, grace, a...

Text: Ecclesiastes 7:20 Speaker: Tony de la Riva -- Is Christianity about becoming a better person or finding personal fulfillment? Not according to God. Scripture confronts us with the sobering truth that no one is righteous before a holy God. No one's efforts or supposed "goodness" can solve that problem. This is why we need Jesus: He suffered instead of sinners to give forgiveness...

Text: Ecclesiastes 7:19 Speaker: Tony de la Riva -- The problems we see in the state of California should cause us to ask ourselves: what shapes a society—politicians and policies, or the deep, presupposed, unexamined worldviews that drive them? God never gives us quick political fixes, but he does provide real solutions in the form of regular, faithful Christians. One believer with a mind shaped...