Divine Savior Church-Santa Rita Ranch Sermons Pastor Stephen Apt

Jesus knows what it is like to be ridiculed, abandoned, and humiliated. He suffered for us and by doing that, gave us a reason to live for Him, even when that is hard or means suffering for us. The first enemy we have to fight is our own sinful self. It craves things that God knows aren’t good for us. Let God change our hearts and minds – which will begin to change our behavior. The best way to do this is living with the end in mind – especially when the going is difficult. Living for God inc...

It’s not easy to suffer. We want to fight back and get revenge. But as Jesus followers, we live a new way. We don’t repay evil with evil, but evil with good. We are called to actively bless people! Even hard-to-bless people! If we are afraid of people, we will keep our mouths shut and not share the life-giving hope we have to share. Let’s remember the living hope of Easter. That will open our mouths and give us reason to share our hope. We have a living, eternal hope! Death is not the last wo...

We live in two different kingdoms – the kingdom of the world, and God’s kingdom. As citizens of this kingdom, we are called to submit to the governing authorities. It is part of how we honor God. But we do this remembering there is one true King, and He isn’t voted in. We honor our leaders, but we worship The King. Our submission shows worship to our heavenly King. The truth is, we are free. Free in Jesus – in the living hope of Easter. So let’s live as free people. But as servants honoring G...

Jesus purified us and made us new - God's special possession! So it doesn’t make sense to keep living the way we used to. Let’s live new lives, imitating Him. Loving the hard-to-love. Let’s grow in our faith by continuing to be fed with his Word. Devour it! He is building us into a building – the greatest building – a spiritual building – His Church! The greatest building with the greatest story! He is the cornerstone and foundation. Our purpose is to glorify God in the world around us with o...

Grief. Suffering. Hardship. Loss. These experiences can cause hopelessness. We need a deeper joy, a deeper hope to live for to make it through. Easter gives that to us. So does the fact that God was thinking about us since before creation! The God who chose us before time began isn’t going to let go of us now. The future we have to look forward to will make everything worth it. That gives us reason for joy. Our suffering isn’t meaningless – it focuses us ever more sharply on the inheritance w...

It’s not easy being a Christian in our world. The living hope of Easter makes it easier, it makes it possible. We learn how to think with hope and how to live with hope. The way we live shows what we are hoping in. God made us “strangers” in this world with the new home He has promised us. Do we live as strangers? Or do we forget that there is more than this? We won’t enjoy living with the love of God until we have the right fear of God. What Jesus did for us at Easter gives us all the reason...