Saddleback Church Weekend Messages

When you decide to live sent by God, you step into spiritual battle. This fight isn't won with earthly weapons—it's won on your knees. In this message from the Live Sent series, Pastor Andy reveals how to engage in spiritual warfare through prayer. Learn to pray first by making God your priority (Colossians 4:2), pray practically by bringing your real needs before Him (Colossians 4:3), and pray powerfully by aligning your prayers with God's will and promises (1 John 5:14–15). Discover how to keep asking, seeking, and knocking (Luke 11:9–10), praying the promises of God that find their "yes" in Christ. When we devote ourselves to persistent prayer, we partner with God's heart for the lost and participate in spiritual transformation. God called you to make a difference. The battle is won when you surrender to His throne. Who is "your one"—the person you'll pray for today?

How do we become Good News people in a world filled with bad news? In this message from the Live Sent series, we look at Peter and John’s encounter with a man who had been unable to walk his entire life (Acts 3:1–10) and discover what it looks like to notice the opportunities God puts right in front of us. Living sent doesn’t require going across the world—your mission field is where you live, work, and play. It means seeing everyday opportunities, speaking life-giving words, and stretching out a helping hand to people in need. We don’t have to make sharing our faith weird or treat people like projects; we can build genuine friendships, pray for open doors (Colossians 4:3), and trust God to use every interaction like a seed planted in someone’s life. Jesus has rescued us from darkness and brought us into his kingdom (Colossians 1:13–14), and his love now compels us to live for something bigger than ourselves (2 Corinthians 5:14–15). In a world filled with bad news, God is calling us to become people who bring Good News.

What does it mean to live like you were sent by God? In this message, we kick off the Live Sent series by discovering that God made us for more—not simply a bigger house, a better title, or the next milestone, but a life rooted in Jesus and given to his mission. Jesus announces that the kingdom of God has come near (Mark 1:14–15), and then sends his followers into the world just as the Father sent him (John 20:21). As followers of Jesus, we are Christ’s ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:17–21), sent with his authority, empowered by the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8), and entrusted with the Good News that Jesus is alive and is making all things new. Your life matters, and God has a purpose for why you are here. The question is whether you’ll live for your own comfort and agenda or surrender your life to his mission. It starts with a simple but powerful prayer: Use me, God.

What does it look like to actually watch for Jesus, not just believe He's coming back? In this message, guest speaker John Bevere shares how he avoided this subject for decades until an unexpected assignment from God sent him deep into Scripture, and what he found reshaped how he lives. Simeon recognized the Messiah as an infant because he lived in eager expectation (Luke 2:25), and the New Testament calls every believer to that same posture, eagerly waiting for Christ's appearing (1 Corinthians 1:7; Hebrews 9:28). Where our minds are set (Colossians 3:1-2) shapes who we become, and that expectation carries power to purify us (1 John 3:2-3), the way a bride readies herself for her wedding day (Revelation 19:7-8). The ten virgins in Matthew 25 all carried light, but only half were ready when the moment came. You don't have to be caught off guard. Get ready. He's coming, and He's coming soon.

In this third message of Off The Shelf, guest speaker and Pastor David Nasser, teaching pastor at New Vision Baptist Church in Tennessee, calls the church back to the ancient practice of “philoxenia”, or “loving the outsider”. He shares how a single church's hospitality toward his family when he was young became the doorway that led him and his family to faith, proof that this practice carries the weight of the gospel itself. Nasser shows that hospitality is never a suggestion but a divine expectation woven through Scripture. Romans 12 urges believers to pursue hospitality with inventive creativity, 1 Timothy 3 lists it as a mark of spiritual maturity and a requirement for those who lead the church, and 1 Peter 4 commands believers to keep loving one another earnestly and to show hospitality without grumbling, since love covers a multitude of sins. If you've ever wondered whether opening your life to someone different could really matter, this message will show you it's not just possible, it's a divine calling.