Welcome to the website of the Anaheim Seventh-day Adventist Church. If you are looking for a place to worship, we would be honored to have you join us. We are very close to Disneyland and the surrounding hotels.

We are located at 900 Sunkist St., Anaheim, CA 92806. Our main worship service is on Saturdays at 11:00 AM. We also offer Sabbath School classes for all ages beginning at 9:30 AM. In addition we offer a Spanish speaking Sabbath School and Devotional service that begins at 9:00 AM.  You can go here to see recent bulletins from our worship services.

Our office hours are Tuesday – Thursday, 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM. For more information, you may contact us us via phone at 714.635.0991, or via email at anaheimsda@gmail.com.

Recent Sermons

March 3, 2018
Genesis 32:27-30

Mid-Week Pastor’s Update

April 18, 2018

Jesus told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’” Luke 5:36-39 NIV

The above passage is a pretty well-known teaching of Jesus’, but was never one of my personal favorites. I have been lately trying to deal with less-preferred passages of Jesus’, though, because if it came from Him, there must be a blessing in it.

Wineskins, in a literal sense, were sheep or goat skins, tied or sewed to hold liquids. And they did a great job! It seems disgusting to us to think of putting liquids into a dried carcass, but in the ancient world, it was common practice. Common also was the knowledge that new wine needed to be poured into new wineskins. Apparently the liquid, coming in contact with the interior of the new skin, would soak-in and blend with it to make a beneficial ‘seal’. As the leather skin got older, however, it would not be able to flex if new wine was poured into it: it would crack and rupture, ruining both.

Jesus’ teaching is true on that basic, literal level, but it had a spiritual dimension as well.

There is no doubt that Jesus was doing something ‘new’ in his ministry. To the established rules and leadership of Judaism at the time, he was not only liberal but radical, not only concerning but dangerous. And I believe he gave this illustration to show that what he was doing could not fit into the current conceptions of what Judaism was. Indeed, it would take new ‘containers’ to hold Jesus’ ministry: New hearts called to him, and a new faith, Christianity, which would develop out of Judaism.

In our day, too, Jesus wants our faith to be a new, refreshing one, that doesn’t fit in stale paradigms of formal, ritualized religion. We need to ask that our hearts be made ‘new’, that we might be able to hold the Gospel in them, without it ‘rupturing’ us.

Jesus’ last statement shared above sounds like a discouraging one. People tend to prefer the ‘old’ rather than the ‘new’. This can be true of religion, where familiar, ‘safe’ forms have an appeal over the radical new forms Jesus was proposing. It’s also true of wine itself: old wine (fermented, alcoholic), has a subduing, drunkening effect, that feels good (though in a harmful way) to its imbiber. New wine though (what we call ‘grape juice’), has none of that effect. It has a strong, pleasant taste, yet keeps us sharp & energized. It is the same with Jesus’ ministry: he represents himself as causing no dulling effects, no tipsiness or drunkenness. Jesus was against anything that dulled the senses or caused carelessness, literal or spiritual. Jesus identifies himself with the often less-preferred, but clearly superiorly beneficial, pure juice of the grape. It brightens the eyes when its smack of taste is perceived.

So Jesus would have it be with all who accept the true Gospel in our hearts. May we perceive that love God has for us, may we let it flow out of our hearts (and mouths and hands) to others, who will similarly be refreshed and re-energized by it.

God bless you all.

Sincerely,

Pastor Mark Tatum