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.

Upcoming Events

Vacation Bible School

VBS will be held on June 25th – 30th and the theme is “Sea of Miracles” about Jesus’ ministry around the Sea of Galilee.
We are actually having a preview Saturday on June 2nd, from 9:30-1:30. We will have some of the decorations up, be singing some of the songs, and have a kid-friendly sermon, followed by a vegetarian potluck provided lunch. We hope you can join us, possibly for both!

For more information, please contact anaheimsda@gmail.com

Recent Sermons

April 28, 2018

Mid-Week Pastor’s Update

June 6, 2018

“Your Word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path” Psalm 119:105

Many times, in various circumstances of life, we have questions for God that we would like answers to. They may vary from who to marry to what job to take, to what we should do with a particular difficult situation. If you’re like me, praying often results in silence (which does provide a good opportunity to contemplate, and to consider with God, etc., but doesn’t always give a clear directional answer), so we then turn to the place by which we know God speaks to us: His Bible.

However, when we open the Word with a question in mind, such as: “Should I take this opportunity that would change my life trajectory?” We open the Word and find God talking about entirely different things. “Let the little children come unto me.” “Love your neighbor as yourself”, and “Greater love has none than this, that one would lay down his life for his friends” are the kind of things we see God saying to us.1 “But I want to talk about my agenda!” we frustratingly say, metaphorically banging our fists on the table.

“But wait,” I imagine God saying, “are we here to settle your agenda, or mine? Is your faith life about your plans, or my plans for you? In this Lord/servant relationship, who sets the topic for the day?” And I immediately find myself humbled, ashamed, saying “Of course, Lord, you do.”

The Lord speaks through His Scriptures on many topics. And, praise the Lord, as we learn the Bible, we learn which parts might be more relevant to go to for our particular situation. And we have example after example after example of how faithful (and sometimes not so faithful) people have dealt with choices and crucial times in their lives.

What I fundamentally see in scripture is God drawing us in: drawing us in to His agenda, His worldview, and His ultimate plan for us. And while we may not get a specific answer for a question like “Should I ask this person to marry me?” from it, we gain perspective, and principles, that hopefully help us manage the daily decisions we make.2

Hopefully, though gaining a Biblical perspective, we learn that our lives are a little smaller, and that we are but a part of God’s overall plan for Christians in the world. Perhaps we see our “emergencies” as slightly less urgent, as we have considered far more critical emergencies have been faced by faith heroes before us.3 Hopefully, overall, a desire begins to grow within us to fit into God’s agenda, rather than He into ours. I think if we aim to glorify God in all things, He’ll help us in that.4

I do consider that, if God were to simply and quickly give us the specific answer we wanted (i.e. a “yes”, or “no”, or a “go that way”), our relationship would eventually turn into responses something like: “Thanks! Bye.” But God draws us in for a deeper relating. He is big on time investment. He’s willing to spend it on growing us over time, do we have the patience to let Him work His way in us?

I pray that in all things we would learn to trust God’s timing and not ours.5 He is, after all, apart from us, greater than us, and righteous in all His ways.6 May we learn to submit to His will, His priorities, and of course, walk forward confidently, asking Him to hold our hands.7

God bless you all.

Sincerely,

Pastor Mark Tatum

1 Verses cited are Luke 18:16, Mark 12:31, John 15:13, respectively

2 The latter half of Proverbs 30 would be a good passage to consider in such a situation.

3 Take, for example, the three young Hebrews thrown into the furnace in Daniel 3. Not I, nor many we’ve known, have ever faced such a crisis in our lives!

4 Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths” is a good passage to consider in such a situation.

5 “God makes all things beautiful in His time” Ecclesiastes 3:11

6 Isaiah 55:8-9, Psalm 145:17

7 See 1st Chronicles 4:10.