Christ PCA Temecula

We all long for rest. More than ever, we are looking for rest and satisfaction in our modern world. Despite this pursuit, we also have a more tired and worn-down world than ever. Why? Because everyone is looking for rest and satisfaction in striving and doing more. Psalm 4 highlights where true rest can be found: in God and God alone. As the great church father, Saint Augustine, said, "Our heart is restless until it rests in you."

This week, we will look at the Letter to the Romans. Why is Christmas so meaningful? What does Jesus' birth have to do with me? Romans 8:1-4 gets at the heart of these questions with the glorious Gospel promise that "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."

This Sunday, on the third week of Advent, we look towards Christmas through the Gospel of Luke. The birth of Jesus was marked by a cacophony of songs and announcements regarding his coming into the world. We will explore the song Jesus’ mother, Mary, sang upon hearing the good news of his birth and the part she was called to play. Mary celebrates the Lord’s mercy to her and those who are to be saved by her Son and our Lord, Jesus.

What would make life better?  Like Israel, we live in the wilderness and grow discontent.  We are secure in Christ, but not yet in the New Heavens and Earth.  The frustrations of life often make us focus on what we do not have.  Numbers 21:4-9, shows that discontentment is sin and frustration with God's providence.  But it also shows how the glory of the gospel and Christ's saving work is the cure of discontentment.

As Advent approaches, we are reminded that much of the Christian life is to be marked by anticipation. But what is our anticipation marked by? In the Parable of the Ten Virgins, Jesus reveals to us how to live as honorable and hope-filled while we wait in anticipation for his return.

This week, we look at the Gospel of Matthew. How do we achieve status, reputation, and significance? We can seek these things through worldly pursuits, but we can also use the trimmings and trappings of piety and religion to achieve them. But Christ disrupts our expectations and categories. He reveals how empty these pursuits are while promising something far greater for the Christian.

In the Book of Numbers, the Lord gave to Aaron, through Moses, a blessing to give to His people. This Sunday, we will see how, in Christ, we receive the benediction we long for rather than the malediction we deserve.

The Christian life is not an island; it’s meant to be lived in community with other believers. Furthermore, the New Testament reveals expectations for how believers should relate to and treat one another. In Paul's letter to Philemon, Paul shows that the hope and message of the gospel should shape the way we relate to others, especially other Christians. Through this letter, we can see both the beauty of a community and relationships shaped by the gospel and also the responsibilities and obligations we have to others who share our fa

This Sunday we will look at the book of Exodus. Now freed from Egypt, where does Israel go? In Exodus 16, we see a picture of how God wants to not only free his people from bondage, but to raise them up, to nourish them in their distress, and prepare them to learn his ways rather than the ways of Pharaoh.

This Sunday we turn to the Gospel of Luke. Of all the parables Jesus told, the pharisee and the tax collector humbles us the most. In it, Jesus testifies to the church that spiritual accolades and religious disciple cannot earn one’s place in the kingdom, especially when they flow from a heart of arrogance and disdain toward others. Instead of trusting in oneself, God calls us to trust in one outside of ourselves, namely Jesus Christ, who did not come to call the righteous, but the unrighteous.