The Ranch Church Podcast

You’re listening to the Ranch Church Podcast. For more information and service times, go to ranchchurch.com.

Weariness comes for all of us, even when we are doing everything right. Opening Hebrews 12, Pastor Rick Soto brings a message he calls Hope for Weary Pilgrims, turning from the hall of faith to the great cloud of witnesses and the call to lay aside every weight, run with endurance, and look to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Rick teaches that weariness is not the end but an invitation to draw near to God, and he separates the tiredness that comes from faithfully fighting the good fight from the tiredness of being out of step with the Lord. He offers a simple equation of faith: God’s power minus pain equals either abundance or weariness, and the difference is whether we call on that power. As pilgrims and exiles who know this world is not our home, we can still embrace the good life God gives here. Through David’s honest prayers in the Psalms and Isaiah’s promise that those who wait for the Lord will renew their strength, Rick shows how God meets his people in their exhaustion, and he traces a pattern found across Scripture: God speaks, his people resist, God helps them listen, and his people go. Looking closely at Hebrews 12:3, he explains how Jesus overcomes the hostile inner voice that speaks against God’s Word. The message closes with Jesus’ own invitation in Matthew 11, come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest, as the prayer team invites the church forward.

Scriptures: Hebrews 12:1-3; Hebrews 11:13; 1 Peter 1:1; 1 Peter 2:11; Psalm 6:6-7; Psalm 13:1-2; Psalm 23; Psalm 27:4, 14; Psalm 56:8; Isaiah 40:28-31; Matthew 11:28-30

You’re listening to the Ranch Church Podcast. For more information and service times, go to ranchchurch.com.

Stepping out of the hall of faith and into Hebrews 12, Lars Linton brings a word for anyone who has come to the end of themselves: don’t give up. Whether the exhaustion comes from parenting, work, a health crisis, or a weary faith, he shows how Hebrews 12:1-4 gives us what we need to keep running. Everyone needs a cloud. That means the great cloud of witnesses, whose faith did not expire when their lives ended, and a community of believers around us today, because our own faith lays the foundation for the next generation. Everyone needs an encounter with Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. He pioneered the way through the cross, and he is pioneering and perfecting our faith through every circumstance of life right now. And everyone needs endurance, the kind Jesus showed when, for the joy set before him, he endured the cross and sat down at the right hand of God, from where he poured out the Holy Spirit. Drawing on 1 Peter 1:7 and the promises of full joy in John 15 and 16, Lars reminds us that facing our doubts is how faith grows, and that joy is not optional for the Christian life. The message closes with the prayer team inviting the church to stand and receive prayer.

Scriptures: Hebrews 12:1-4; Hebrews 11:6, 8-12; 1 Peter 1:7; Mark 9:24; John 15:11; John 16:24; Galatians 5:22-23

You’re listening to the Ranch Church Podcast. For more information and service times, go to ranchchurch.com.

Pastor Rick Soto brings the hall of faith in Hebrews 11 to a close with verses 29 through 40, in a message he calls How Faith Crosses Over. From the Red Sea to the walls of Jericho to the house of Rahab, he shows how God carries his people out of one life and into another: from bondage into deliverance, from lack into abundance, from darkness into his marvelous light. Drawing on John 5:24, where Jesus says the one who believes has passed from death to life, and on 1 Peter 2:9, Rick reminds the church that no one is here by accident. We are chosen, and God still asks, what’s in your hand? Looking back on how the Lord brought Ranch Church into its 63 acres, he names four truths for every crossing: God chooses to move, God chooses to deliver, God chooses to destroy evil, and God chose you. The Red Sea calls us to reject man-made religion, rebellion, and excuses. Jericho calls us to do things God’s way, without complaint. And Rahab, a woman her world had used and discarded, shows how completely God can rewrite a life, to the point of placing her in the family line of the Messiah. The message closes with the faithful of whom the world was not worthy, and an invitation to come forward for prayer for power, deliverance, renewal, and salvation.

Scriptures: Hebrews 11:29-40; Exodus 14; Joshua 2:9-11; Joshua 6; John 5:24; 1 Peter 2:9; Matthew 1:5

You're listening to the Ranch Church Podcast. For more information and service times, go to ranchchurch.com.

Continuing through the hall of faith in Hebrews 11, Jeff Clay turns to verses 23 through 29 and the life of Moses, Israel's greatest prophet, lawgiver, and deliverer. In a message he calls The Anatomy of Faith, Jeff takes faith apart piece by piece to show the kind of faith that freed a nation and can still set us free today. It begins with Moses' parents, who hid their son in defiance of Pharaoh's edict because they saw he was no ordinary child. It grows into Moses' own courageous refusal of royal privilege, choosing to suffer with the people of God rather than enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin, because he was looking ahead to his reward. Every time we say no to sin, Jeff reminds us, we are saying yes to something far better. From there, Moses endures because he sees him who is invisible, institutes the Passover through simple obedience to strange instructions, and leads a fearful people through the Red Sea with a faith strong enough to carry a nation. Drawing on Romans 8 and 2 Corinthians 4, Jeff calls a church living in an increasingly hostile culture to believe the Word of God, fix its eyes on what is unseen, and ask the Lord for increased faith. The message closes with the prayer team inviting the church forward to pray for that faith.

Scriptures: Hebrews 11:23-29; Hebrews 11:1, 6; Numbers 12:6-8; Exodus 14:13-14; Isaiah 63:9; Romans 8:18, 28-30; 2 Corinthians 4:16-18; 2 Kings 6:17

Pastoral invitation: Ask God for increased faith, not private or theoretical but objective faith that is lived out. The prayer team came forward and Jeff invited the church to come pray with them for courage to name the name of Christ when it is hard. Jeff also thanked the prayer team for praying every Sunday.

You're listening to the Ranch Church Podcast. For more information and service times, visit ranchchurch.com.

Guest speaker Derek Bluett opens Acts chapter 9 and the conversion of Saul, arguing that the gospel offers not behavior modification but true transformation. Walking through Saul's encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus and Ananias's obedience in going to pray for him, Derek shows that transformation is sparked by trials, requires real trust in God rather than in ourselves, and results in a freedom the world cannot offer. He closes with Jesus's promise in John 8:36, that whoever the Son sets free is free indeed, and challenges the church to live a life clearly marked by the gospel rather than quietly blending in.

Scriptures: Acts 9:1-19; John 8:36

Pastoral invitation: An open call for anyone wanting greater transformation to come forward for prayer and the laying on of hands, framed explicitly as a step of faith, with the awkwardness of standing up and leaving the seat named as part of that step.

Continuity: Guest Sunday, breaks from the Hebrews series. No direct scriptural link back to Hebrews 11, though the theme of God transforming people through trials and trust would bridge naturally if you want to tie it back on air.