Santa Maria Foursquare Church

Anchored in Prayer

Prayer is an incredible way to commune with God — and every time we pray, we're dropping a faith-anchor. Today we're looking at a story Jesus told that's all about prayer, and why we should always pray and never give up!

Anchored in the Word

The storms we've faced over the past years — they're not going away any time soon. But good news! Jesus promised we can build solid lives, even in storms, as we're anchored in him! Today we're discovering how we can be anchored to God through his word, the Bible. Plus, we're launching a new Bible reading initiative — SM4 260 — that will take us through the entire New Testament in one year. Cool fact: there are 260 chapters in the New Testament, AND 260 weekdays in a year. So, we're reading one chapter a day, Monday - Friday. More info and our reading plan here: https://sm4.org/260

Unwrapped: Unending Joy

Christmas is over — all that remains is to drag the dead Christmas tree out to the trash and pay the bills that stacked up in December. Was it worth it? Absolutely! In fact, the JOY of Christmas isn’t meant to be experienced just once a year. Christmas is over — but Christ remains! And the joy we have in him can stick with us through every season, even the hard ones.

Unwrapped: Unshakable Faith

The first Christmas came at a time of incredible upheaval in Israel. There had been 400 years of conflict and silence from God. Nearly all hope was gone when God broke his silence by speaking to Mary. And faith arose as she believed what God said about her life. This Christmas we can join with Mary and declare to God: we want EVERYTHING you have for us!

Unwrapped: Unrelenting Love

What if there had been no Christmas? What if Jesus had never come? We can barely imagine the catastrophic loss that would have been to humanity — whether people believe in him or not! His powerful influence has shaped all of our stories and has held back darkness from completely overtaking the earth. Much of that has to do with his unrelenting love. He came to the world because of love, and he embodied love, even to his death on the cross.

Seeing the Invisible: the Way of the Future

At the end of Hebrews 11, we find both stories of victory and of suffering. It's easy to have faith when we feel like we're conquering and victorious — but it's much more challenging when we're going through the pain of suffering. Today we gain insight into our faith as we learn to SEE what God is up to in our stories, especially when they are hard.

Seeing the Invisible: The Way of New Life

What changes in someone's life when they see the invisible? Everything. And it causes people to go all-in with their faith — giving it all in exchange for the treasure they've found. Today we see this played out in Moses' life, as seen in Hebrews 11. He went all-in, exchanging life in the palace to go after the promise. Why? Because he saw the invisible God.

Seeing the Invisible: the Way of Prophecy

What we speak over others and over ourselves will be life giving or death delivering. Today, Pastor Gary shared with us how important it is to build up and speak encouragement and comfort over others and how what comes out of our mouth can effect and impact our lives.

Seeing the Invisible: the Way of Perseverance

In the series, “Seeing the Invisible,” we’ve been going through Hebrews 11, the faith chapter. Today we looked at how Abraham’s faith was tested and how he persevered in faith even in the midst of doubts. While he didn’t receive the fulfillment of the entire promise of God in his lifetime, he remained secure in God’s plan and promise. We can learn to do the same!

Seeing the Invisible: The Way of Promise

Throughout Hebrews chapter 11 we find a number of very short stories about men and women who are the HEROES of our faith — people who persevered despite all odds, because of their confident assurance in what God had revealed to them. Today we will hear about how their stories illustrate how God speaks PROMISES to help people begin to SEE the INVISIBLE and come to FAITH.

Loving our Neighbors

Jesus is really clear — it's impossible to love God fully without loving our neighbors fully. To make his point, Jesus tells a story about a man beaten and robbed. The one who came to his rescue shows us what being a loving neighbor is all about. Today we also share a number of ways our church family is actively caring for our neighbors!

Seeing the Invisible: the Way of Faith

In Hebrews 11 we're reminded of men and women of old whose very lives teach us about faith — what it looks like, how it works in our lives, what it requires of us, and how God rewards it. In this first message in this series, Pastor Tim breaks down verse one, an important introduction to our understanding of faith.

Dumb Things Smart Christians Do: Tunnel Vision

Any of us can get trapped by tunnel vision — only seeing a tiny bit of life and missing so much of the world around us. Today, pastor and missionary Joel Arreola, talks about tunnel vision and what we can do to break out of it.

 

SM4 is committed to our partnership with the Arreolas and their work in southern Mexico. To learn more their ministry, and to join Team Arreola, check out: https://sm4.org/arreolas

Dumb Things Smart Christians Do: Getting Stuck in the Past

It's easy for any of us to get stuck in the past. Whether it's from the loss of good things, or the distress of painful life experiences, we can be held hostage by our histories. But Jesus made a way for us to become unstuck, able to live life fully free.

Dumb Things Smart Christians Do: Letting Your Mind Run Wild

When we spend a good amount of time letting our minds run wild, we lose the ability to concentrate; and a lack of concentration can become a problem. When we are undisciplined in our thoughts, we can easily be sidetracked from what we are trying to accomplish. Today, Pastor Lisa shares how God knew the importance of our thought life because our thought life is detrimental to our spiritual walk and our well-being. We are to be purposeful we are to set our minds on Jesus!

Dumb Things Smart Christians Do: Living a Disordered Life

It's so easy to misorder our life — putting all the little things in front of what's most important. But have you noticed that a misordered life leads to a disordered life? When all the pieces are no longer fitting together we experience the pain, frustration, and anxiety that comes from feeling disorder. But it doesn't have to be this way! We can reorder our lives and experience the rest that comes from God himself.

BONUS TRACK: For Men Only — The ”I WILL” Spirit

Psalm 101 seems to have been written specifically with men in mind. Its eight verses are packed with a dozen "I WILL" declarations, as David was stepping into his leadership role as king, and stating exactly what his LIFE and LEADERSHIP would be all about. As men, we can learn from him about stepping into our role as spiritual leaders, and discover how we can "impose our will on life" rather than the other way around. 

Dumb Things Smart Christians Do: Living Distracted

Have you ever been caught in the "shiny object syndrome" — where what glitters brightest steals your attention? It happens to all of us, and advertisers spend BILLIONS to distract us even more. But what God says what we look at matters, because our vision sets our direction. Our heart follows our eyes. Today we're discovering how we can break free from distractions and live our lives to the fullest in Jesus.

Know Your Season

If your life can be measured in seasons, what season do you think you are currently in? Although we don't get to choose our seasons; it is critical that we know the season God has us in! It is our hearts, not our ages or circumstances that shape the seasons of our lives. If our hearts are tender to God, we are more receptive to what He wants to teach us in this season. Today, Pastors Dennis and Debbie help us look at two things that we need to know about seasons.

Dumb Things Smart Christians Do: Bad Decisions 2

The decisions we make — both big and small — are incredibly important, because what we DECIDE is what we DO. And what we do shapes both the direction and quality of our lives. Today we examine three "lenses" we look through that tend to block out God's perspective on the decisions we're making: instinct, experience, and religion. Plus, we discover what Jesus says is the only way we'll be able to see him clearly!