Sunday Service @ 10:00am
San Rafael, CA
During this festival we call New Year, we experience mere shadows of reality. These shadows will never fully satisfy our soul because they lack the substance to do so. ...Keep Reading
This is a reflection of my recent trip to India with ten other members of my home church, Epic Faith, in San Rafael, CA. As many people have been asking me how my trip was, I thought the best way to share with many people would be for me to sit down and actually write out my thoughts for others to read. We spent ten days traveling, about two in New Delhi and the rest in Andhra Pradesh, in a small village called Puritigadda. During our time we helped in medical clinics that we aided in funding, visited children in schools, and helped with some basic construction of a church in this village, which we helped to fund as well. We were blessed to visit some of the churches in the region as well; the two pastors on our trip got to teach through a translator, our good friend Raj Nadella, who is a native of Puritigadda. As a group we were able to serve the churches through prayer and other means....Keep Reading
I fail . . . a lot. This bodes poorly for someone so performance minded as myself. I am so often frustrated with myself, and if honest, with God for the pace at which He sanctifies me. That is, after more than a decade, shouldn't I be able to stop doing the things I hate! Why do I keep returning to the same patterns, to the same postures, to the same responses? Why do I keep returning to the same sins?...Keep Reading
Most of my experience has been with churches that were very clear on their need for relevance. This, admittedly, includes my own church. Even the many movements of the last two decades, seemed to voice this imperative. Their message was clear, from seeker sensitive to postmodern to emergent, we have heard the culture and are responding accordingly. This, however, makes an interesting assumption: that the culture wants Jesus . . ....Keep Reading
This 98 minute interview that John Piper did with Rick Warren was recorded on May 1, 2011, during the Desiring God Regional Conference at Saddleback Church. It's the fulfillment of a commitment made when Rick was not able to come in person to the Desiring God National Conference in Minneapolis in October, 2010....Keep Reading
Starting in January of 2011, we started a series entitled "Vanity". This was an expositional preaching series through the book of Ecclesiastes. Warren Wiersbe titled his commentary on the book "Be Satisfied". To aid us with that goal in mind, we concluded our series in confessional form. To do so, I highlighted the major themes in Ecclesiastes and our appropriate response to each one. This confession serves to affirm our satisfaction in Christ alone and that all else is vanity....Keep Reading
Our pace must be quick because our time is short. A quick pace is not indicative of carelessness or impatience, but rather an unwillingness to be an obstacle. Paul is clear. "...time has grown very short". His point is that we are to attend to the kinds of daily affairs that would be unimportant if Christ were returning within weeks or months. That our love for Jesus' mission would rank significantly higher than it does for most Christians....Keep Reading
Leaving a church should not be considered lightly and the decision should be made carefully. Prayer, wise-counsel, and discernment are required to make this decision faithfully. Further, no one should ever leave a church without having sat-down with church-leadership in an effort to stay, first. ...Keep Reading
"Can centuries of creeds & confessions really be wrong?" "Did the early church fathers really miss the mark?" Now, creeds are not Scripture and Augustine is not Jesus. Regardless, shouldn't they be considered carefully as helpful guides in affirming doctrine? The issue of heaven and hell has all culminated with Rob Bell's release of "Love Wins." A book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived. ...Keep Reading