Vida Church Santa Maria

Returning to God – Luke 15

God doesn’t need a thing — right? If he is who he says he is, he’s completely lacking nothing. So then why does Jesus say he has need of something? Join us for this conversation in Luke 19 and discover why God may “need” us to be involved in his mission of redemption.

Instructions for the End Times

When Jesus' disciples asked him a question about the destruction of the Temple, he had much to say in response. Luke captured Jesus' words in Luke 21, where he describes a future that is dark, war-torn, and scary. Yet in his words we find hope for his followers and several points of instruction. Let's learn from Jesus about how we can live without fear even in the darkest of days.

Subversive Good

When everything is going wrong, how is it possible to see things change? Jesus tells us when he speaks these subversive words: Love your enemy. This is so counterintuitive to our natural way of living. How is it even possible? Join us as we dive into Luke 6 and find out.

Be Fruitful and Multiply

John the Baptist drops the hammer in Luke 3, calling people not only to repentance — but to live like it! And what he says echoes what God had said all the back in Genesis 1: "Be fruitful and multiply." Discover how these four words lead to living in God's blessing.

Day One Celebration

There is power in focus. It's why people make New Year's resolutions — to FOCUS their energies on things that need attention. Today Pastor Tim shares three areas of focus for SM4 in 2023: Prayer, God's Word (including our new 260 Journals), and the development and release of Leadership. Dive in and don't miss out on the new things God is doing this New Year!

Unexpected Expectations

We bring many expectations into our relationship with Jesus. Today, Pastor Gary shares from the Christmas story how to deal with these different expectations. As we do, God will show up and prove his promises true.

Our Christmas Hope

Much of life is spent in the "waiting room," living in anticipation of receiving what God has promised — but it's not here yet. We're still waiting. Why would God make us linger and not immediately provide us what's been promised? That's what we're discovering today through the Christmas story of Simeon.

Hold Fast – Part 3

Hebrews 10:23 offers us a unique model of faith — five powerful ideas wrapped up in this single verse. Today we wrap up this three-part series and discuss the importance of getting our hope out into the world around us.

Hold Fast – Part 2

How do we come to faith? Today we continue our look into Hebrews 10:23 and the essential role that God's promises play in this process. We'll find that without his promise, hope (and faith itself!) would be impossible. But when his promise comes alive within us, everything changes!

Hold Fast – Part 1

You only have to read just a bit of the Bible before you’ll recognize that FAITH is extremely important — to God and to our stories. This reality of God’s faithfulness is always the starting point for faith. Pastor Tim shares with us how once you come to know that God is faithful, it makes sense that you’d choose to believe what He says is true. Then it makes sense why you’d HOLD FAST to His promise.

Surprised by Jesus

Would it surprise you that Jesus will send you into the middle of trouble? But take courage – He will meet you there as well. That's what we discover in the story of Jesus walking on the water. It's where He joins His friends who were in deep trouble.

An Upgraded Faith: Knowledge

It's in 2 Peter 1:5 that Peter tells us there are essential things to add to our faith. In fact, he goes on to say in 1:8 that if we don't add to (or upgrade) our faith, we'll end up with a faith that's totally ineffective. One of the upgrades Peter says that's needed is knowledge. But what kind of knowledge is he talking about, and how can we get it? Dive in today and let's discover together.

An Upgraded Faith: Perseverance

Yesterday's good decisions were helpful — but they have little value today if we don't persevere. If we give up now, all may be lost. Perseverance is more than patience. It always has three elements: waiting, pressure, and promise. Today we explore those three things to find how we can upgrade our faith with perseverance.

An Upgraded Faith: Self-Control

The Apostle Peter tells us one of the "essential upgrades" to our faith is self-control. And we're not talking about human willpower on steroids. This kind of self-control is part of a spiritual (and even supernatural) lifestyle, empowered by God himself. It's where our decisions come into agreement with our discernment, and we say 'NO' to useless things so we can say 'YES' to those things that are useful and fruitful in our lives.

An Upgraded Faith: Serving

Did you know you can build confidence in your faith? The Bible tells us we can do this by serving well. The reverse is also true: people who never serve run the risk of being filled with doubt. Today we explore what serving well looks like (and what it doesn't look like!), and how the perfect example is found in the life of Jesus.

An Upgraded Faith: Prayer

We are continuing in our series of Upgrading our Faith and today our missionary and Pastor, Joel, teaches us about another way we can upgrade our faith – and that is by praying. While ALL prayer is communication with God, there are MANY different kinds of prayers that we discover in God’s Word.

An Upgraded Faith: Worship

We know that God reveals Himself to us, so it’s our responsibility to keep our eyes open and watch for what God would reveal to us. We have to take responsibility to be reading the Bible and to quiet ourselves to listen to the Holy Spirit. And after we receive His revelation, it’s our responsibility to respond with action. We can’t just receive the revelation and leave it at that. We must respond with action. Our active response to God’s revelation can look different depending on what God is revealing to you. So, you might be wondering if we can respond to God in so many different ways, why would worshipping in song ever be necessary? Why would God ever want you to respond that way? Pastor Kaelyn shares with us several reasons why responding to God by worshiping in song is very important for us to be able to upgrade our faith.

An Upgraded Faith: The How

Today, Pastor Lisa shares about the HOW – How do we take what we hear from scripture about goodness, godliness, perseverance and love and add to our faith so that we can be people who are effective and productive? We will be learning together over the next few weeks on How to upgrade our faith so that we will be people who posses these qualities in great measure, increasing every day!

An Upgraded Faith: Love

If faith is the operating system of Christian belief, and God's promises are the code, then love is absolutely the language in which it's written. Love is central to how our faith in Jesus is to be lived out. Without it, no matter how smart or spiritually powerful we are, we are useless! But when love is added to our faith, we become God's transforming agents of grace.

An Upgraded Faith: Forgiveness

Forgiveness is one of the most challenging upgrades to our faith — but it's essential if we want to live free from the brokenness others have splashed onto our lives. And it's essential if we're to have a faith that's useful and effective. But it's hard! So what actually is forgiveness and how do we do it? Hint: it's NOT forgetting what's happened OR giving someone a pass to continue causing pain!