Saddleback Church Weekend Messages

This past weekend, Pastor Andy continued our Jesus on the Move series by exploring the authority of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark. Many of us try to control our lives and circumstances, but underneath that struggle is a deeper question: who is really in charge of our lives? In Mark 1 and 2, Jesus teaches with authority and demonstrates it by confronting evil, healing the sick, and forgiving sins. These moments reveal that His authority brings freedom, healing, and forgiveness. Scripture reminds us that pride and rebellion place us outside of God’s authority, while humility and surrender open the door to His grace and peace. As we surrender our lives to Jesus and allow Him to lead, we begin to experience the peace that comes from trusting Him.

In a culture where people are searching for their calling, Jesus offers something deeper. In Mark 1, Jesus invites ordinary fishermen with simple words: “Follow me.” Their calling did not begin with a career or plan. It began with a relationship. First, Jesus calls us to relationship with Him. Following Jesus is not about rules or religion. It is about letting Him lead our lives. Our lives are defined not by what we do, but by who we follow. Second, Jesus calls us to transformation. The disciples came as ordinary fishermen, but as they followed Him, He changed them. Jesus meets us where we are, but He does not leave us there. Third, Jesus calls us to make a difference. Jesus told His disciples He would make them fishers of people. Their decision to follow Him changed the world, and God still uses ordinary people to reach others with His love.

Before any healings or miracles, Jesus’ ministry begins with a declaration of identity. In Mark 1, as Jesus rises from the water, God the Father declares: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” This past weekend we kicked off Jesus on the Move, exploring the life and ministry of Jesus through the Gospel of Mark. Pastor Andy walked through Jesus’ identity revealed, the kingdom of heaven inaugurated, and His obedience tested in the wilderness. We’re challenged to reflect on our own identity. Everything we do flows from who we believe we are. Because of Jesus, we are given a new identity as children of God, invited into His mission and strengthened for our own wilderness seasons.

This past weekend marked a season of celebration, calling, and renewal. We looked back with gratitude at all God did through The Return Gathering and heard stories of salvation and life change. Pastor Andy reminded us what we experienced at The Return Gathering was not just a moment, but a movement. Through the story of John the Baptist, we saw how preparation always precedes what God wants to do next. God has each of us in a season of preparation. Every season prepares us for something. The question is not whether we are preparing, but how we will respond. We can ignore it, reject it, or embrace it. This is a season of preparation. Join us as we prepare our hearts, homes, church, and community ready for what God has in store for us.

From the Garden of Eden until now, Scripture tells one story: God’s constant desire to dwell with His people. This past weekend, guest speaker Luke LeFevre called us to be a generation that seeks the face and glory of God. Throughout the Bible we see God pursuing nearness, from the Tabernacle to Jesus to the Church today. We also see how God raised up and walked with people like David, who sought God’s glory and nearness in their lives. But what is God’s glory and how do we experience it? God’s glory is His presence among His people, and Luke asked a piercing question: Are we content to live without His presence? Like David, who longed to dwell in the house of the Lord, we are invited to seek God above all else. As we look ahead to The Return Gathering and what God has next, may we be a church that longs for His glory and seeks His face.

Over the past five weeks, Pastor Andy and Stacy shared what it means to get Back on Track with God’s design for our faith, health, finances, relationships, and work. But how do we stay on track when life gets tough? This past weekend, Pastor Andy shared the answer: community. Pastor Andy reminded us that God has given us three powerful gifts to live out his purpose for our lives: his Word, his Spirit, and his Church. We were never meant to follow Jesus in isolation. God created us to live in community, where walking alongside others helps us go further than we ever could on our own. When we look at the early church in the book of Acts, we see how community fueled deep devotion and a growing closeness to God that no one experienced alone. Don’t walk alone. Take your next step into community by joining a small group today at saddleback.com/groups.

God’s original design for work was never meant to feel like a burden or simply a way to survive. From the very beginning, before sin entered the world, God created work as something good and meaningful, inviting his people to join him in shaping, cultivating, and caring for his creation. Yet for many of us today, work can feel complicated, misaligned, or even painful. In this message, Pastor Andy returns to Genesis to rediscover God’s original, divine design for work and to remind us that the struggle we feel does not mean we missed our calling. Instead, we are invited to receive work as a gift, not an identity. This message challenges us to stop working for pleasure, profit, or pride, and to see our work as an act of worship, offering our best to God and learning how to experience peace, purpose, and freedom in whatever work is in our hands.

Money carries so much weight in our lives, but this weekend’s message reminded us where our trust belongs. This past weekend, Pastor Andy shared a simple, freeing truth: everything we have already belongs to God. He is the owner, and we are trusted stewards. Money is not the goal or the problem. It is a resource God created and a way we worship him through how we use it. In Matthew 25, Jesus tells a story of servants entrusted with their master’s money. The servant who used what he was given faithfully was rewarded, not because the money was his, but because he honored his master. God invites us into that same trust today. He places resources in our hands and calls us to use them with his purposes in mind. As we work hard, plan wisely, and hold everything with open hands, we learn the heart of this message. Trust God over money, and use what he gives for what matters most.

When we follow God’s divine design for our lives, He leads us toward a healthy life mentally, physically, and emotionally. This past weekend, Pastor Andy reminded us that our health matters to God because our whole lives matter to Him. Our bodies are not just something to manage or enjoy. They are a gift. God did not give us a body to worship. He gave us a body for worship. The way we care for ourselves can become a daily response to His love. We often separate our spiritual life from our physical and emotional health, but God sees them as deeply connected. He created our minds and bodies to work together so we can live out His purposes. We cannot fully step into a heavenly calling without caring for the earthly bodies God has entrusted to us. The invitation was simple and personal. How can we dedicate our whole selves back to God and care for our health as an act of worship?

Getting back on track does not start with fixing everything else. It starts with returning to God. Every area of our lives, our faith, health, finances, relationships, and work, flows from our relationship with Him. We looked at the story of Cain and Abel and saw the difference between giving God leftovers versus giving Him our best. Abel offered his first and best as worship, while Cain held back. God is after our whole heart. What we give our time and energy to is what grows. The appetite we feed is the appetite that shapes our lives. God responds to humility and holy hunger. As a church, we are stepping into 21 Days of Prayer and a season of fasting as we seek God together, leading toward our Return Gathering. This year, we are invited to trust God with our whole lives and give Him our best, not our leftovers.