Praying Psalm 23 - Pastor Rick Soto

Praying Psalm 23 - Pastor Rick Soto

Show notes You're listening to the Ranch Church Podcast. For more information and service times, go to ranchchurch.com. In this interactive teaching, Pastor Rick Soto opens Psalm 23 as a school of prayer. He teaches two simple practices, praying scripture by agreement and praying scripture by application, and leads the church in praying the shepherd psalm together, line by line. Along the way he traces the shepherd heart of God from Psalm 28 and Isaiah 40 through John 10 and Revelation 7, names seven marks of a good sheep, and speaks honestly about rest, soul restoration, and fearing no evil because "you are with me." He also brings a direct challenge: to recover the bold, praying spirit that marked Ranch Church's earliest days, and to become a church genuinely devoted to prayer. Scriptures: Psalm 23; Psalm 28:9; Isaiah 40:11; Matthew 9:36; John 10:2, 11-14; Revelation 7:17; Galatians 5:1 Pastoral invitation Two layers. Personally: learn to pray scripture, agreeing with it and applying it to the specific places you carry fear, pain, and want. Corporately: step into a renewed culture of prayer, concretely a 24-hour prayer chain and ongoing prayer chapel, and receive prayer from the team for soul restoration.

Extravagant Faith - Hebrews 11 - Dr. Rich Danson

Scripture references: * Primary: Hebrews 11:4-6 (Abel's offering, Enoch's walk, faith pleases God) * Supporting: Genesis 4 (Cain and Abel), Genesis 5 (Enoch), Ephesians 2:8-9, Luke 1:37, Galatians 5:16, Psalm 14:1, Romans 1:22, Proverbs 20:12 Message summary: Dr. Rich Danson opens Hebrews 11 by establishing that faith is the foundation of the Christian life—not earned works, but God's gift received through trust. He contrasts Abel's extravagant, faith-filled offering with Cain's selfish, mediocre gift to God, showing that what flows from the heart matters more than the mechanics. Moving to Enoch, Danson illustrates what it means to "walk with God": a life aligned with the Holy Spirit's desires, nourished by prayer and Scripture study. He closes with the call to radical faith: believing God's power despite atheist objections, living as extravagant givers of our time and lives to Christ, and recognizing that 50 percent of America is "primed" to respond to the gospel if believers will evangelize faithfully. Major themes: * Grace and faith together—salvation is a gift, not performance * Faith expressed in action—what we do reveals what we believe * Extravagant giving—offering God our best, not leftovers * Walking with God—an intimate, continuous relationship sustained by prayer and Scripture * Faith as spiritual courage—trusting God despite fear, emotion, or circumstance * Evangelism as responsibility—believers are witnesses; sharing the gospel with neighbors is not optional

Pray Our Father - Matthew 6:9-13 (The Lord's Prayer) - Pastor Rick Soto

SERMON TITLE: Pray Our Father SCRIPTURE: Matthew 6:9-13 (The Lord's Prayer) You're listening to the Ranch Church Podcast. For more information and service times, go to ranchchurch.com. THE MESSAGE Pastor Rick Soto teaches on prayer through the lens of relationship. The deepest truth about God is not a doctrine but a person: He is Father. The power of praying the Lord's Prayer lies not in repeating the words but in knowing God relationally. Rick emphasizes that through Jesus' blood, you have access to intimate relationship with God, who knows everything about you and loves you anyway. The sermon works through the Lord's Prayer phrase by phrase: Our Father in Heaven. God is actively Father toward you. He is not passive. His fatherhood is the foundation of everything else. Having the right Father changes everything. Rick illustrates this through Cherry Bentley's story from Ethiopia, where she realized that the only difference between her sitting in a nice restaurant and a woman begging on the street was her father. Through Christ, you have access to the right Father. Hallowed Be Your Name. God's holiness is absolute purity, more pure than anything in creation. When you pray this, you are aligning yourself with His sacred character. Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done on Earth as It Is in Heaven. Through Jesus' blood, you have been given power and authority. Heaven's economy is not distant; it is working in your heart now, so that earth can be blessed through you. Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread. Jesus used a Greek word (epiousios) that did not exist before He spoke it. It means "upon substance and identity." He is saying: You need supernatural power and nourishment to face what you're facing right now. Not everything you want, but everything you need to live. Forgive Us Our Debts as We Forgive Our Debtors. Unforgiveness is a lock that grabs hold of you. You must break that hold by forgiving others, so you can step into the abundance God has for you rather than clinging to pain, rejection, and loss. Lead Us Not Into Temptation, but Deliver Us From Evil. God often answers prayers with "no" out of love. He is protecting you from paths that would harm you, not withholding blessing. Trust His judgment as a loving Father. THE PASTORAL INVITATION Step forward. Accept God's fatherhood. Let go of what has hurt you. Embrace the promises He has for you now. God is calling you to trust Him with both His yes and His no. CONTINUITY WITH PREVIOUS SERMON This continues the Hebrews series' focus on Jesus as the source of everything (following from Hebrews 5-6 on Jesus as High Priest and the call to maturity). Here, Jesus teaches us that intimacy with the Father through relationship is the substance of mature faith.

Faith Is - Hebrews 11:1-3 - Pastor Jeff Clay

Show Notes: "Faith Is" (Hebrews 11:1-3) You're listening to the Ranch Church Podcast. For more information and service times, go to ranchchurch.com. Scripture Hebrews 11:1-3 Message Pastor Jeff Clay defines Christian faith by starting with a simple but profound question: What is faith? While everyone exercises faith in some form, Christian faith is distinct because its object matters entirely. Faith without an object is worthless. True faith is connected to something solid, something that holds. The Greek word hupostasis, translated "being sure," literally means that which stands under, like a foundation. Our hope rests on something firm and substantive. This is what separates Christian faith from every other worldview. We don't have faith in faith itself. We have faith in Christ. Christian faith produces hope, and hope produces perseverance. When hard times hit, which they will, faith gives us somewhere to go and someone to trust. The ancients were commended by God precisely because they believed what they could not see and were absolutely certain of what they hoped for, even when circumstances suggested otherwise. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to worship an idol, knowing that God was able to deliver them, yet even willing to trust Him if He chose not to. That kind of faith honored God. But Christian faith isn't merely historical or spiritual. It addresses the real needs we face now: loneliness, love, meaning, freedom, forgiveness, and hope. Jesus offers not a checklist but Himself. Through Him, we find purpose when life threatens to become trivial, love when we're isolated, forgiveness when we've fallen, and hope that extends beyond death. Faith is both decisive and personal. It begins in a moment but must be maintained and sustained through community, discipleship, and intentional growth. Without maintenance, faith withers. Main Themes * Faith defined by its object, not by itself * The foundation beneath hope * Faith as historical reality (Old Testament examples) * Faith addressing present human need * Faith as a muscle that must be exercised

Don't Throw Away Your Confidence -- Hebrews 10:31-38 - Pastor Rick Soto

Don't Throw Away Your Confidence - Pastor Rick Soto SCRIPTURE REFERENCES: Primary: Hebrews 10:31-38 Supporting: Genesis 35:5, 2 Chronicles 17:9, Acts 5:11, Matthew 3:15, John 1:38, John 3, John 5:6, John 5:47 MESSAGE SUMMARY: Finishing out Hebrews 10, Pastor Rick builds the case that true confidence in God is inseparable from the fear of the Lord. Using free climber Alex Honnold as an illustration, he reframes fear not as terror but as the highest form of respect, the kind that produces unstoppable people. Drawing on three Old Testament examples where the fear of the Lord fell on surrounding nations, he shows that this posture toward God is a power key for the church. The heart of the message lands on three principles of confidence: knowing who you are, accepting who you are, and being who you are, illustrated through both Jesus and John the Baptist at the Jordan. The message closes with Jesus asking four questions that anchor faith and draw people to himself. MAJOR THEMES: * Fear of the Lord as reverence, respect, and awe rather than terror * Confidence rooted in the fear of the Lord, not in self-reliance * Three principles of godly confidence: knowing, accepting, and being who you are * Endurance as a product of confidence in where you are going * Faith as the normal operating mode of every human life * Jesus walking in your heart the same way he once walked in Galilee   Most people think confidence and fear are opposites. In Hebrews 10, they are the same thing. In this message, Pastor Rick Soto finishes out Hebrews 10 with a teaching on what it actually means to fear the Lord, and why that fear is the foundation of genuine, unshakeable confidence. Using free climber Alex Honnold as a window into what it looks like to respect something greater than yourself, Pastor Rick shows how this posture toward God produces people who are, as the text puts it, absolutely unstoppable. Three principles anchor the message: knowing who you are, accepting who you are, and being who you are. Jesus and John the Baptist at the Jordan River become a masterclass in all three. The sermon closes with four questions Jesus asks in the Gospels that he is still asking today. This is part three from Hebrews 10. Start with Draw Near and Lines Not to Cross for the full arc. For more information and service times, visit ranchchurch.com.