The River Church Sermons: Recent Episodes
The River Church of the South Bay
We are a church that experiences life giving community, walks in Christ together, and cares about all people.
We often assume that following Jesus means our faith should only grow stronger with time. But Elijah's story tells a different one. Right after his greatest victory came one of his darkest moments. We'll discover what God is like when we're exhausted, discouraged, or simply don't have anything left to give. I think you'll be encouraged.
David in Psalm 16 helps us see how God is inviting us into the fullest life by teaching us how choosing to embrace personal friendship with God rather than embracing the ways of the world leads to the greatest fulfillment and satisfaction.
sacrifice your son, your only son, the one you love.” How do we trust God when nothing makes sense, about ourselves, our dreams, or God himself? The confusing story is found in Genesis 22:1-18; might I suggest you read it as a story, letting it prod you to ask questions, some of which will not yield answers. The story points to a greater hope.
series as we step into one of the most remarkable encounters in Scripture. In Genesis 18–19, the God of the covenant sits down to share a meal with Abraham, revealing the kind of relationship He desires with those He calls to Himself—not one of distance, but of fellowship, friendship, and trust. From that table, God invites Abraham into His own concerns, opening a conversation about righteousness, justice, and His heart for the world. As we follow Abraham through this extraordinary exchange, we'll discover that walking with God means more than receiving His promises—it means being drawn into His purposes and learning to care about what He cares about.
24 years. When we arrive at Genesis 17, that's how long Abram has been waiting for the fulfillment of God's promise. And in beat after beat of the story, God has invited Abram to ever deepening steps of trust in Him. All of which raises the question: What is God up to in the waiting? What does God intend through His invitation to ever deepening trust? Join us as we continue our series in the life of Abraham with a teaching from Genesis 17 and a look at God's purposes in drawing us toward time-tested trust in Him.
A woman on the run. A meeting in the wilderness. A surprising turn that changes the course of history. Join us as we continue Abraham’s story in Genesis 16 and discover one of the most beautiful names of God in all of Scripture—El Roi, “the God who sees.”
We continue our Dangerous Faith series by exploring one of the most beautiful conversations in Scripture. As Abraham wrestles with God's promise to make his family a blessing to the nations, God meets him with reassurance and invites him to lift his eyes toward a sky filled with stars. In that moment, when Abraham is gazing at the galaxies, we encounter one of the defining truths of the Christian faith: faith is trusting the God who always keeps His promises. That trust didn't come easily for Abraham, and it doesn't always come easily for us either. Yet, God is patient with our questions and faithful in every season. My hope is that as we journey through this passage together, God would expand our faith to be as vast as the stars Abraham gazed upon, giving us fresh confidence to trust Him and follow wherever He leads.
When God promised Abram that He would make him the father of a great nation, it required him to leave his extended family (Lot) and go to a new destination. The point? No, you can’t stay where you are. That’s what we were hoping for. I’d like to remain where I am please. For God to bless your life, it will require change. So Abram goes. But wait, what is Lot doing in the caravan? He’s the nephew. He’s not part of Abram’s immediate family. That was not God’s plan. So what is Lot doing in the story? It was Abram’s insurance policy. Just in case. Just in case God’s plan A doesn’t work out, I will have a plan B. In the ancient near east, a family was not a luxury but a necessity for survival. But Abram and Sarai had no heirs. That’s where Lot fits in. Bring along plan B in case plan A does not work as planned. In Genesis 12, Abram brings along Lot. In Genesis 13, Lot becomes a royal pain. So Abram draws a boundary line, Lot taking the choice real estate, Abram settling in a less desirable portion of the land. But at least he’s drawn the line. He’s let go of Lot. It’s when Abram sends Lot away, that God speaks for the second time, promising Abram will become a father of a great nation. The realization of the blessing came when Abram ditched his Lot. And the same is true for us.
rough. What happens next in this story is not unlike many of our realities. A big, ugly collision between calling, hope, faith, the promises of God, and life in a hard, broken world. I've been wrestling with this for a while. And while I don't have many answers, I've been thinking we could look at the text and sit in the tension together. I'll show up if you do?
We conclude our journey through Romans 8 by stepping into one of the most breathtaking passages in all of Scripture. In Romans 8:31–39, Paul lifts our eyes above the noise, anxiety, and pressure of everyday life and anchors us in three life-changing truths: God is for you, Christ has justified you, and nothing can separate you from His love. We’ll explore the staggering depth of God’s affection for His people and discover how the these truths give us the perspective and endurance for the realities of everyday life.
Let's discuss one of the most, maybe the most misunderstood and misused verse in all the Bible. The other one is God helps those who help themselves which isn’t even the Bible. But, here it is, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good...” Oh, there’s more, “...to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”Please don’t use this verse with anyone who has suffered the loss of a loved one. What I mean by that is if you get a chance to sit with someone suffering, maybe know it, pray over it, keep it in your mind, believe it, but maybe start a little softer. They often need comfort. They need to be seen and heard. They need to be free to process, to feel what they are going through with its full impact, to talk about it, to grieve. Good? Now back to the verse.This verse is smack dab in our scriptures for a reason. We cannot deny that. It’s God’s word to us. This verse is Paul’s conclusion to a long conversation about how the Holy Spirit helps us in our struggles, our suffering, and our hardships. So what does it mean? I suggest we have the wrong perspective and that’s why we struggle with what Paul is saying.Reflect on this quote for a bit and then let’s discuss.‘None of the good things of this present life can be relied on. They are shortlived. The things we see, though made by the creative Logos and the wisdom that transcends all wisdom, are always changing, now one way and now another, born upward and then downward. That is why it seems we are being played with. Before something can be laid hold of it flees and escapes our grasp. Yet there is purpose in all this, for when we reflect on the instability and fickleness of such things, we are led to seek refuge in the enduring things that are to come. For if life always went well, would we not become so attached to our present state, even though we know it will not last, and by deception become enslaved to pleasure? In the end we would think that our present life is the best and noblest, and forget that, being made in the image of God, we are destined for higher things.’ — Maximus the Confessor ‘the Cosmic Mystery of Christ’
Anyone who has tried to communicate across a language or cultural barrier knows the frustration of being lost in translation. A misunderstood word, an accidental cultural faux pas—it can be funny after the fact if all ends well, but it’s painfully awkward in the moment. Romans 8:26-27 takes us to a beautiful promise of God for us in the midst of life’s suffering and heartache: the Holy Spirit both identifies with the mess, fragility, and vulnerability of our cries of heartache and transforms them into prayers before our Father. Nothing is lost in translation with God. Join us as we look at Romans 8:26-27 and learn about our helper in a fallen world.
Scripture tells one unified story that ultimately leads to Jesus—but along the way, it’s filled with ordinary people whose quiet faithfulness moves that story forward. Many of them appear only briefly, their acts recorded in just a line or two, yet their obedience plays a vital role in God’s plan.As we look at the opening chapters of Exodus, we’ll see how God works through the courageous faith of women whose small “yes” made a lasting impact. On this Mother’s Day, we want to honor the women in our church who continue that legacy—those whose everyday faithfulness is helping move God’s Kingdom forward right here in the South Bay. We will hear from a couple women who exemplify this faithfulness in their own lives!
In a fallen world, the question is not whether or not we will face heartbreak and suffering. Though life is also full of joy and beauty, the hard stuff in life is inevitable. Even now in our community many are facing profound heartbreak and suffering.Again, the question is not whether we will face the storm of heartbreak and suffering; the question is how we can navigate it. We’ve seen so far from Romans 8 that the invitation to life with Jesus in the Holy Spirit is an invitation to a secure, unshakable identity free of condemnation, set on the hope of eternal life, and beloved by God as His children. Join us as we see from our text in Romans 8:18-25 that this identity is not merely a nice piece of sentiment, but a new and profound way of facing the hard stuff of life.
Remember the story of the prodigal son? He felt so ashamed. He walked away with far less of an inheritance than what his father really wanted to give him. He went at it his own way. And then, in a move of total desperation and as an outlaw and a coward and a pig slime eater, he squirms his way back, hoping to now be a servant rather than a son. And the father’s response? Son, get off your knees. Come here. I welcome you home. I wept every night for you. You are my son.Paul makes the same argument in Romans chapter 8. We are not given into slavery and fear, but we are adopted children of God. Loved and fully vested with an inheritance beyond our imagination. So why in the world don’t we walk in it?
It was my first year of college, and my faith had sailed straight into an intellectual hurricane. I was drowning in questions about science, philosophy, and history; my mind felt like it was on a life-or-death scramble for evidence to support my belief in Christ. One night, I prayed a desperate prayer: “Lord, I want to believe. If you are real, help me as I investigate my doubts.”The very next morning in my freshman English class (El Camino, baby!), we read a poem that bypassed my head and rocked my very soul. Its lines spoke to the true question haunting my heart: death. That reading felt like a reassuring wink from God as I began a decade-long intellectual quest. John Donne’s Holy Sonnet 10 famously declares:Death, be not proud, though some have called theeMighty and dreadful, for thou art not so...One short sleep past, we wake eternallyAnd death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.As we dive into Romans 8 this week, we face that same human ache over life and death. It is a question that both John Donne and the Apostle Paul answer with the same defiant hope.
What does God envision for your life? Or put another way: what kind of life does God invite us to as we follow Jesus? Depending on your background and story a few things might come to mind--some ethical principles from something like the Sermon on the Mount, perhaps a particular spiritual discipline or two, or maybe just the general idea of not being a jerk. All of these are wonderful things. Yet, the Scriptures show us that life with Jesus is about far more than a few truth claims to believe and a life trying hard to be nice; life with Jesus is an invitation to a radical, joy-filled renovation of the heart. For the rest of the Spring, we'll be taking a deep dive into Romans 8 and learning together to be a people brought into a new shared life by the Holy Spirit, a life of new identity in Jesus, and a new way to navigate the broken stuff of life. Join us as we begin with a look at Romans 8:1-4 and our new identity free from condemnation.
Well, It’s Easter. And we all know what that means. Going to church with family or friends is set on our calendar. Probably the most well attended Sunday church service of the entire year. Why? For all sorts of reasons. Mostly good. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is so embedded in the fabric of American society that we barely think twice. We just go. We become present in the moment and reflect for a moment on this humanly impossible event where Jesus rises in bodily form after being crucified and dead for three days.The Resurrection for believers brings hope. And it should. It’s been a tough year. Health concerns, world conflicts, uncertainty in the markets. I could go on. WE all need a little hope. But this year, I am suggesting that the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is about something even bigger. Bigger than hope? Yes. I won’t share the word here. Sorry, I usually spill the beans, but this time, I want to surprise you with what I believe is at the heart of the Resurrection. It’s not an event to be admired, but a life transforming moment that makes us different and changed. If Jesus brings new life, we should be living into it.
“If only I could have been there and seen it for myself…” Perhaps you’ve thought something like this of the life of Jesus. I certainly have. Yet, the gospel of Luke’s account of Jesus’ crucifixion shows us something striking. Most of those who bore witness to Jesus’ death completely missed what God was doing. But one figure in the account has eyes to truly see the moment: a criminal on the cross next to Jesus. So how can we, like the criminal on the cross, have eyes to truly see the power and beauty of God’s work for us in Jesus? Join us as we look at the words of Jesus in Luke 23:32-43 and learn to see the Cross with fresh eyes.
The more we reflect on the cross of Christ, the more we realize its profound implications to change our lives and our world. As we take another step towards the cross this week, we’ll embrace one of the most intimate and profound moments in the Gospel. In the midst of unimaginable suffering, Jesus pauses to care for His mother. Even in His agony, His love is deeply personal and profoundly practical. At the same time, Jesus is forming something new—a family defined not by blood, but by faith in his Father. In this powerful exchange, we’re reminded that Jesus not only meets our deepest needs, but also invites us into a spiritual family where we truly belong.
A single word. I now lean in that direction and put all my weight on this one thing. Let’s talk about that.
We are starting a fresh teaching series and community focus at the River Church. In these weeks before Easter, we are entering into the weight, darkness, significance, and glory of the cross. Standing in the shadow of the cross, we enter into a solemn space. A weighty moment which our words can’t capture. Here, an epoch shifts; a crushing debt is paid; a cosmic battle is won; light has pierced the darkness and human history bends toward redemption. In this event of absolute gravity, only a few words escape the parched lips of Jesus. In the next few Sundays, let’s huddle together around the cross, lean in and listen with all of our might. As Jesus breaks His ancient silence, His words offer breakthrough for our lives. We hear a painful and powerful lament from the cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?!”
Have you ever had any of these objections to prayer?“God didn’t answer my prayer before.”“If God is sovereign, why pray?”“I don’t want to hope and be disappointed again.”“I don’t feel anything when I pray.”“Why would God respond to me?”“If God knows everything, why tell Him?”If so, you're going to love our time together as we develop our theology of prayer and are encouraged by real testimonies of the power of prayer.
When I think about a common denominator or the bridge that holds all humans together, I propose one experience might be pain and suffering. We see it all around us, across the globe and the timeline of history. It is inescapable for all of us. We come to the question that will occupy us this week. Where is God in all this suffering? Why does God allow so much pain and evil in our world?I come to this question with humility and sensitivity. Each of us will approach this question from our own personal experience, and for some pain is too raw right now; for others, it brings anger and cynicism. I am in a place where I can step back and share some of my own personal perspective. While we may wish for more answers from God in the Bible, we do see he is the God of hope, and he asks us over and over again, “will you trust me in this?” We need look no further than to Jesus, his cross, and his resurrection to know that he is for us, and understands our pain. But still… why?
Most hardcore scientific atheists hide behind a shroud of doubt and avoid the big question, where did all of life form come from? The origin. The unsatisfactory answer is given, molecules bumped into each other and formed a single cellular life and then began multiplying spontaneously. But cells don’t work that way. And where did they get the information needed for each added cellular function?I guess my purpose is to build your confidence in an intelligent designer who was the master creator behind all things. To believe otherwise has no basis in reality. To believe in a creator God is backed by science.
One of the most common reasons people struggle with Christianity isn’t a lack of information—it’s what they’ve seen. Many have watched Christians say one thing and live another, and it raises an honest question: If the message is true, why don’t the messengers always reflect it? Join us as we talk about the reality of hypocrisy, why Jesus spoke so strongly against it, and where real hope is found for those who have been hurt by it—or who see it in their own lives. Our faith isn’t built on perfect people, but on a perfect Savior, and that changes everything.
In countless conversations over myriad legitimate intellectual questions of faith I have had with people over the years, one background experience is a common theme: for many people, God doesn’t feel real. Behind so many of our valid intellectual doubts is the issue of felt experience. Join us as we open up Psalm 63 and explore the question, “If God is real, why doesn’t he feel more real?”
Are the scriptures historically reliable? They are certainly good, moral, spiritual, and inspiring, but are they grounded in historical reality and do they (even try to) “get history right”? These are big, important questions. Questions that, as a historian, I personally care about deeply. Let’s enter into these inquiries with a look at the biographies of Jesus we call the “Gospels.” These narratives are central to our understanding of who Jesus is, what Jesus is up to, and what this whole thing we call Christianity is all about. But can they be trusted? More specifically, why do we think the Gospels “got the historical Jesus right.”
and learn the surprising beauty of Jesus' claim to be the One who gives life and life abundantly.
Voltaire once said that if God didn’t exist, we would’ve invented him. There’s something deep within the human psyche that needs to follow after something. We crave it. Yet, we need to be careful that what we invent or what we follow after does not destroy us. The world is full of idols. A world that God created. They compete for allegiance. Our job is to pick our alliance well. It determines the course of our life. I’ve been meditating on Jeremiah over the Christmas break. What it has come to reveal to me is that in this new year, our sole focus requires a realignment to one single voice that will not compete with others. A voice so particular, so steady, it does not stutter. It’s a voice in the wilderness crying out. Will we attune our ears? In other words, the Christian life comes down to being attentive to the voice of our creator. He calls out. He reveals his plan. He comforts. He draws us close. He affirms.
Have you ever driven somewhere and arrived with no memory of the trip, answered “good” when someone asked how you’re doing (without thinking), or wondered how it’s already that time of year? You’re not alone. We all go into autopilot through the seeming monotony of life. Sometimes we can go through seasons of life where it feels that way - busy, distracted, tired, and running on autopilot - even in our spiritual lives. Paul has a word for people like us, a word to walk wisely, and live like our time actually matters. Let's sit with Paul and ask the Lord to direct this year for us.
From the garden to the manger, God’s heart has always been to dwell with His people. Christmas isn’t the start of that story—it’s the center of it. Let’s celebrate the gift of Immanuel - God with us, now and forever!
What is the difference between a good story and good news? What is the difference between a good true story and good news? Stories are wonderful. Stories inspire us. Stories shape our imagination. Yet, in the famous angelic announcement of Jesus’ birth to the shepherds of Bethlehem, the angel did not claim to come with a good story; the angel claimed to come with good news. Join us as we continue this advent season by looking at Luke 2:8-12 and learning together to respond to the coming of Jesus as good news.
Christmas is a time for tradition. It’s a season wherein we are careful to do those special things that we’ve always done in the ways we’ve always done them. We throw the customary parties, invite the regular folks, eat the expected foods, sing the songs, drink the drinks, watch the movies, give the gifts. Christmas is that one time of year in which we can count on things running more or less as they always have. Ironically, the stories underlying the whole season—the stories of Christ’s birth—are tales of profound disruption. As we will see this Sunday, they are narratives of God’s story breaking and entering into ours. Some of us—most of us—need divine disruption this December. Let’s answer God’s invasive invitation into His story this Christmas!
Jesus is born. Wonder, peace and joy accompany. Mom and dad present their first born son as a servant to the Lord, a dedication of sorts at the temple. A sacrifice.What we see is generosity is a sacrifice. Then we meet some seekers. Simeon and Ana, and they see with their own eyes what they had been searching for their whole lives. A lifetime of seeking. What we also see is what you seek sets the course of your life.
(Philippians 4:7). But what does the peace of God mean? And how do we come to experience it in the day to day trenches of life? Join us as we learn together from Philippians 4:1-9 to live in the way of peace.
We’re exploring what it really means to know Christ from Philippians 3:10–21. Isn’t it incredible that we are invited into a deep friendship with Jesus? I am shocked by this and encouraged by Paul’s words for what it looks like to press on, to shape our lives around Christ’s story of humility and self-emptying love. In a world full of competing stories and endless distractions, we’ll be reminded that our true citizenship is in heaven and that our lives here can reflect that truth. Join us as we learn together what it means to keep pressing on, knowing Christ more each day.
One of the most beautiful things about the gospel is the way God levels the playing field. It does not matter how much money you have, how many bad choices you have made in the past, where you go to school, or what your reputation is like. Jesus came that each of us might know and be found in him. You probably know this already. But shoot. It is soooo easy for us to slip back into believing that God loves us because we’re “mostly good.” Even when we know the truth. Did you know that “being found” in Jesus means we actually have to give up our reputation and resume in order that we may stand in and live out of HIS righteousness? For those of us who are proud of where we’re from or what we’ve done with our lives, that’s a big idea to wrap our minds around. And an even bigger idea to actually live by.
Who’s following you is another way to phrase the initial question? This is precisely what Philippians 2:19-30 is all about. Paul replaces himself with Timothy. He will hand the baton to Timothy before he says, “I have finished the race.” Relevant for today?I’d hate to spend my whole life and look back and have not influenced one person in the way I spent my life. Let’s talk about legacy building. Let’s talk Paul and Timothy.
Our cultural moment is one of political tension, algorithm-driven echo chambers, ideological violence, and rapid cultural and technological change. Yet against this backdrop, there is evidence of surging interest in Christian faith—Bible sales and online searches have increased dramatically and church attendance among Gen Z has increased every year since 2022. In our own church we’ve seen people come to saving faith for the first time, people re-engage in life with Jesus for the first time in a long time, and young people take bold steps as leaders. All of this raises a critical question for followers of Jesus: what does it look like to be a faithful witness to the good news of Jesus in our time? Or, to put it in the language of Philippians 2:15, what does it look like to shine as lights in the world? Join us as we learn together from Philippians 2:12-18 to turn on the light.
Churches today (including the River Church) are facing the greatest possible threat. This Sunday we are going to talk about it. As it turns out, the antidote to this pervasive and corrosive epidemic shows up right smack in the middle of our Philippians passage this week. Join us on Sunday to take an honest look at both the nature of this threat, as well as our only protection against it. (This sounds heavy, but I promise I’ll tell a few jokes at some point to lighten the mood.)
In this cultural moment, we sense a growing clarity about what God is doing. He continues His unchanging mission — seeking and saving the lost — but now, His people are becoming aware and ready to join Him.Let’s lean in with open hands and willing hearts, praying for where He might lead us next. When we say yes to the Great Commission, we step into the greatest adventure — following the greatest God making disciples of all nations.We’re honored to welcome our ministry partners, Alex and Millie Ojera, as they bring a message on the mission of Christ. We're excited for their voice and perspective to help illuminate where God might be calling us to go next.
Jesus shares the gospel, good news of a new king who saved not politically, but spiritually in a time of great diversity and divide. I personally like his approach. He is willing to, as they say, “mix it up” with this woman. He draws her in to the real issue and goes after what’s holding her back. Her response is astounding. She’s all in. This is the River Church. Mix it up, listen, talk, show respect, be concerned for others. And, that’s a big and, lead people to Jesus through a life changing encounter with the truth of God’s word. WOW. Bolder and equally truth filled.
So Paul is actually going to say, "For me to live is Christ and die is gain." I wonder if we actually believe that. If we understand that. If we did, would we have the courage to put our faith on the line as we know Charlie Kirk, fellow believer and young man that shared Jesus with college students did? I mean, to question if we think this passage was written to you as well as others, like Charlie, who put it all on the line. Maybe this national tragedy will spark a flame that will ignite believers to live out their faith in new ways. What would that look like?This passage speaks of living in light of an eternal perspective. Our aim is not life preservation, but embodying the fullness of actually living for Jesus with every breath you have. And to die is gain? You can know Christ and not live for Him. To live for Christ… that takes courage, community and a cross. I will be speaking to each of these components as they describe truly living.
George and I are coaching August's soccer team this season. We've been playing for all of one week and it is absolute chaos. But there is hope for a great season, we have a plan! What makes a great, effective team? What does it take to (dare I say) win? Let’s look at what Paul (an absolutely legendary coach) has to say to his partners, his friends, his team.
Each of us is searching for joy and peace. Or put another way, none of us woke up this morning and thought to ourselves, "Do you know what I don't want to experience today? Joy and peace." Yet even though we all experience profoundly happy moments, lasting, joyful, peaceful contentment can often feel out of reach. Join us for the next two months as we learn together from the book of Philippians, seeing in it Paul's Holy Spirit inspired portrait of joy in all circumstances.
I want to believe that God's faithfulness means He will keep me from pain and loss and trials of any kind. But I have experienced pain and loss and trials. So what is true? This weekend I want to look at God's promise to be faithful and what that means/looks like/feels like in the middle of a storm.
Life gets hard. We know that - we have lived it! We are familiar with the afflictions of life, and are intimately aware of the pain and sorrow that come with it. But, what do you do in those times? Do you complain to the nearest person to you? Do you buckle in and bear it, making sure no one else knows about it? Or, do you take your situation to God in prayer? This week we explored how the art of lament leads us closer to God, and closer to his heart. Lament does not always make the situation "disappear," but it shows us God's appearance through it all.
This last six months I have spent most of my work life hanging out with dead people. That is, my research thrusts me into the strange and fascinating ocean of ancient Roman, Jewish, and early Christian literature. I’ve been reading heaps of their poems, novels, essays, philosophic treatises, scandalous narratives, visionary descriptions, moral rants, speeches, and surviving letters. My favorite part of my time with the ancients is when they say something that is—to us inhabitants of the 21st century—completely weird. I just LOVE getting my hair blown back their bizarre hot takes on the human experience. Ancients say the darndest things. As we continue to consider the reality and shape of human suffering in our modern lives, I want to showcase a constellation of weird, wild, and completely scriptural strange takes on suffering. These might shock you, but I believe they might actually help us in the throes of pain. Join us to hear some unfiltered ancient wisdom.
In a fallen world, the question isn't whether or not we will experience heartache and pain. The question is what we will do with it. We all know the common ways we might respond to heartache in a place like the South Bay--distract ourselves with fun experiences or new purchases, busy ourselves in our responsibilities at work or with our families, deny the pain with religious platitudes and fake church smiles, the list could go on. But at the heart of following Jesus is the radical and freeing invitation to come to Him with our heartache. Join us as we learn from John 11 and see in it the heart of God for us in the midst of our heartache.
God, where are you? Why is this happening to me? Do you even care? You know these questions. You’ve asked them. Many of you are living in the midst of these questions right now. This is what our students explored at Hume Lake Christian Camps. We are looking at the story of Joseph to discover how God works all things according to his plan and purpose. What people have intended for evil, God works for the good of his purposes. Join us to hear our campers stories from Hume and the start of our series - God with us.
How important is seeing through the right lens? Ask anyone who's had to make do without their glasses or been living with the wrong prescription and they'll tell you--it makes a whole world of difference. And seeing through the right lens isn't just a matter of reading a traffic sign or further into the distance or making out details that would otherwise be fuzzy; it's a matter of navigating the world around us according to what we see. All of which brings us to the Biblical phrase we'll be demystifying in our final week of our Words to Live By series: Heaven and Earth. Join us as we clarify the often misunderstood vision of eternal life and hope presented to us in the pages of Scripture and learn together how to live in light of that which will matter forever.
As we continue our sermon series, Words to Live By, I want to draw our attention to two surprisingly powerful prepositions: “with” and “in.” Though small in size, these words carry enormous theological weight. They’re easy to overlook, yet they reveal a profound mystery—through faith, we are united with Christ and now live our lives in God. Simple words. Eternal truth. Mysterious, beautiful, and absolutely life-changing.
Let's do some word association. When I say "holy," you say... what? For many of us the knee jerk reaction that we have to a word like "holy" conjures images of a kind of cold, dull moralism that (if we're honest with ourselves) seems irrelevant at best and deeply unattractive at worst. Phrases like "holy huddle" or "holier than thou" come to mind. But the writers of Scripture speak of God's holiness and our call to be holy with Him as anything but cold and dull--biblical pictures of God's holiness are majestic and captivating. Join us as we learn from Isaiah 6:1-8 what it means to see the captivating majesty of God's holiness and the invigorating goodness of embracing our calling to be holy as He is holy.
In the South Bay, performance can be a way of life. From career and family milestones to curated Instagram feeds, the pressure to succeed—and to be seen succeeding—is relentless. But beneath the sun-soaked ambition often lies a quieter story: exhaustion, anxiety, and the nagging sense that our value is always just out of reach. Enter the invitation of God's grace—not as a vague spiritual idea, but as a disruptive truth, a foundation on which to build life. Join us as we continue our Words to Live By series by unpacking, demystifying, and learning to practically internalize the concept of grace: God's unconditional acceptance of and favor toward us in Jesus.
Have you ever had someone tell you they believe in you? Not that they believe you—but that they believe in you. There's a difference. When someone believes in you, they’re not just nodding at your words. They’re trusting your character. They’re confident in who you are and what you’re capable of. They trust you to come through.I want to talk about what it means to not only believe Jesus, but to believe in Him. To practice trusting who He says He is—not just in theory, but in the tension, the waiting, and the risk of real life. Can you guess the "word to live by" that we're going after?I am beyond excited for this one.
Imagine that Jesus of Nazareth was coming to preach. If he jumped into our “Words to Live By” summer series, what word or words would you like him to explain for us? Perhaps a more important question: what word or words do you think he would want to talk about? Well, a much less cool speaker will be speaking—I’m sorry to say I have no information one way or the other if Jesus is going to return this weekend, but if He does I’ll definitely give Him the mic. Nevertheless, the word chosen for this weekend will be Jesus‘s favorite teaching topic. The topic we find him discussing in the gospels more than any other words. Let’s wrap our minds and hearts around a concept about which Jesus was obsessed. Listen for the big reveal!
Have you ever heard a term used at church or come across a word in the Bible and thought “Huh?” Or maybe a concept is brought up and you’ve thought “I think I know what that means but... do I really?” The story of Scripture and the ideas it leads us to live in are a beautiful true map through which we navigate life, but it often involves words or concepts that can be unfamiliar or unclear even to people who have been walking with Jesus for years. This summer, we’ll take a closer look at some of the most foundational and often misunderstood of these ideas, gaining a clearer shared understanding and filling out our map with Word to Live By.
The End is Near. Don’t Procrastinate. Oh great, here we go again. Another message that begins with vanity of vanities, all is vanity. A generation goes, a generation comes. There’s nothing new under the sun. You might think your thing is new, your thing is the ultimate. I have found it. You have figured it all out. Then the seasons come, and with the changing seasons come harsher and harsher weather says the preachers in the book of Ecclesiastes. In the last chapter, chapter 12, he’s talking about old age. The weather just keeps getting worse as you get older. If you are at that age where you occasionally might wet your pants, you get the part about the clouds return after the rain. It’s all a metaphor for all the hardships one endures as one ages. The end is harsh. The preacher says these are evil days that bring no pleasure. So what’s his advice as we wrap up this wisdom literature? What do we do with a life that in all estimation is a crap shoot as to what you will get. Maybe it goes well for you for a while. Maybe not. Life hands out lottery tickets and the winner lost the winning ticket between the car seats a week ago. The number grows. Maybe next week. Maybe not. So, final words of wisdom, Mr. Preacher Man? Solomon would say one thing. Remember the Lord in the days of your youth. Oh, and fear God and keep His commandments, this is the whole duty of humankind. That’s it? Remember God when you have all your faculties and fear the Lord? That’s the best you can do after ranting about the futility of life for 11 chapters? I can hardly wait for the answer.
John D. Rockefeller was one of the richest men in the world. At the age of 53, Rockefeller was the world’s only billionaire, earning about a million dollars a week. But when someone asked him how much money was enough, he famously said, “Just a little bit more.” I've invited a special guest (my husband!) to join me in sharing some thoughts and insight about contentment, greed, and generosity... and our personal stories of getting it right and wrong. What would it look and feel like to live here in the beautiful South Bay while pursuing this biblical perspective with all we've got?!
Avoiding pain and maximizing pleasure. This is perhaps one of the most enduring human instincts and life-shaping habits in history. How much space does personal enjoyment take up in our life plans? If you live in the same South Bay that I am blessed to call home, this is a very important question. We love a good beach day, party, or vacation! We love fun food, delicious drinks, excitement, and entertainment. We work hard and we play hard. Another, perhaps more important question is a theological one: how does our personal enjoyment and play fit into God’s design? Is God indifferent on the matter? Is He helping us get the party started? Or, like so many movies have suggested over the years, is God largely forbidding of fun and pleasure, like the curmudgeonly reverend in Footloose or the withholding mayor in Chocolat? Let’s crack open the scroll of Ecclesiastes and consider an inspired and inspiring ancient poem on the matter!
If you are prone to cynicism, like I am (occasionally), our journey through Solomon’s Ecclesiastes could drag you down rabbit holes of hopelessness. But what we have in this very ancient book of wisdom are the hard-learned lessons from a sage, who was the wisest and maybe the wealthiest man in his time. He could and did get anything his heart desired. At the end, it all came up empty, meaningless, a chasing after elusive wind. But in between his brutal honesty are golden insights—which can guide us into the good life, where we can “eat and drink and find satisfaction in [our] own work” (Ecclesiastes 2.24). Let’s talk about our work.
Join us to celebrate... Mothers!New mothers. Grand mothers. Young mothers. Old mothers. Single mothers. Future mothers. Spiritual mothers. Joyful mothers. Expectant mothers. Disappointed mothers. Step mothers. Foster mothers. Playful mothers. Working mothers. Stay-at-home mothers. Bonus mothers. Bereaved mothers. Adoptive mothers. Tired mothers. Prayerful mothers. Waiting mothers. Grieving mothers. Hopeful mothers. Faithful mothers. In all seasons of motherhood, God is and will be faithful. Let's celebrate that together.
On the one hand, we are living in something of a golden age of wisdom. We have more access to better information for things like longevity, mental health, financial planning, relationships, and nutrition than ever before. On the other hand, we are also living in the most anxious period of history on record--more Americans report feeling anxious about their lives than ever before. We're living in a super bloom of information, but a drought of inner peace. Which brings us to the book of Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes guides us to address this tension not by abandoning wisdom, but by planting the pursuit of wisdom in the right story. Join us as we learn from Ecclesiastes 1:12-18 to chart a better path forward for the pursuit of wisdom in the South Bay.
King Solomon wrote this book for three reasons. One, it’s an auto biographical account of his search for life’s purpose. Second, it was a stern warning to his fellow Israelites to find a meaning to this short life. Third, it was an apologetic for travelers seeking Israel’s hidden truth about a belief in one God who alone makes sense in our existence.Where are you at? Personally Searching, need a strong correction, or just passing through hoping to learn the truth of the wise one who knows God?This week, when all you’ve ever wanted isn’t enough, do you know why it’s not? As Bart Starr, the great football quarterback once said after his super-bowl, “If this is the game of all games, why is there another one next year?” It’s often not until we come face to face with our own mortality that we see the vanity of life and what its real purpose is.
We celebrate the resurrection of Jesus by encountering it from the perspective of those women who first discovered the empty tomb. Through their eyes, let's recapture the majesty, meaning, and great surprise of that world-changing first Easter.
In the maelstrom of our historical moment, we crave respite. Nations and neighborhoods seek refreshment. As a species, we seem socially, psychologically, and spiritually parched. Where do we go and to whom do we turn? We can look around for an agency, politician, or novel movement to bring stability and shelter, or we can look back to the time-proven wisdom of Jesus of Nazareth, the greatest teacher and only true protector. Let’s huddle around the scroll of Matthew and nourish our hearts, minds, and relationships with the life-giving words and community healing person of Jesus.
Sometimes the Scriptures are confusing. There are a lot of laws and rules, stories and promises. Can someone just simplify it for us? In Jesus' day, Rabbis were often asked to summarize the teachings of the Scriptures. One prominent Rabbi, Hillel, had a student come up to him and ask him if he could summarize the Torah while he stood on one foot. What I like to call the flamingo question. Hillel responded, “That which is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. That is the whole Torah; the rest is commentary.”The Rabbi Jesus some years later also offered a summation of the Law and the Prophets; the summation we now know as the Golden Rule: “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you.” This pithy phrase helps us live life in the Kingdom of God, loving God and loving others.
We are thrilled to welcome Stefan and Suzanne Von Ruti, two of our amazing mission partners. They will share their insights into what God is doing in the Western Church, especially concerning Unstoppable Faith, and its implications for us! We deeply appreciate having such an extraordinary voice from beyond our community to guide us in discerning the Spirit's direction. Fully Committed to God’s Mission- Jesus came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10).- God’s command is always "Go!" (Matthew 28:18-20).From Comfort to Commission- Paul faced hardships but stayed committed (Galatians 2:20, 2 Corinthians 11:23-28).- Challenges shouldn’t make us lose sight of the vision (Philippians 4:6-7).Reclaiming the Dream – Where Is Your Spain?- Paul longed to go to Spain (Romans 15:23-28).- Too many Christians settle for less.- America has a pioneering spirit – are you still hungry for revival?Challenge: What big dream is God calling you to? Where is your Spain?
What are the things this week that have kept you up at night or woken you up in the morning? Do you worry about health, a relationship(s), your finances, job, safety, or kids as you go about your day? Sometimes I think there is nothing the Bible could possibly say to lessen those worries, but I have been praying that the words Jesus has for you and for me would have a real impact on our hearts and minds. Could they? What if they did...
Jesus says to pick the right treasure and pursue it with everything you got. It’s in Matthew 6:19-24. So, the basic idea is whatever you choose to live for kind of sets the course of your life and determines which master you will serve. Honestly, there isn’t much of a choice. One rots, rusts, and is stolen from you, the other rocks. You can think about it, but not sure why. Here’s the problem. We get caught up in the weeds and hear a little voice in our head telling us to chose the wrong one and we get ourselves into a world of trouble. Now, understand, we are all in process. No one has it all figured out, so we all learning to live for the right treasure and take our prompts from the right master. So how do we do it?
In a place like the South Bay, it's not difficult for us to see the ugliness of self-righteous religion. And though it may come as a surprise to some, Jesus actually beat us to the punch by about 2,000 years in his critique of self-righteous and self-serving religious practice. Yet Jesus' critique goes deeper, showing us that unless we really understand the problem of self-righteousness and intentionally replace it with something categorically different, we will be in danger of doing the very thing that we rightly find so ugly. So what is the alternative on offer in life with Jesus? And how does it actually play out in day-to-day South Bay life? Join us as we continue our Sermon On The Mount series with a teaching from Matthew 6:1-18, learning together to follow Jesus in losing our (self-righteous) religion.
Murder, adultery, divorce, fraudulence, vengeance, and hatred. Talk about cultural issues of our day. Someone once said, if we simply ALL obeyed one of God’s commandments, just one, we’d be a heavenly society. Think about that. No murder. Or no divorce or adultery. Wow! What a society that would be. Well, that has come and gone. We need another solution, and Jesus has it. It’s His antidote for all of these poisonous pollutants in our society. Tucked away in this very cryptic text is the answer to the world’s problems. No matter your political preference, or your past, Jesus has a way forward for a better more civil world. Don’t we all want that?
It's all about Jesus. Plain and simple. It always has been and it always will be. All of life is about him. All of history is about him. All of the Scriptures are about him. And how we live our lives should be all about him. As we continue our journey into the Sermon on the Mount, the great Preacher on the Mount will show how his fulfillment of the Scriptures leads to a new righteousness he will develop in us. I cannot wait to be in this text together!
Imagine walking into a room that feels dull, lifeless, and dark. Now imagine flipping on a light switch, and in an instant the mood changes, the darkness is gone. Like turning on the lights, Jesus says we have the power to bring life, hope, and change wherever we go. Do you know people like this? Would you consider yourself one of them? Let's talk about how our influence can shape the world—and why Jesus believes you’re more powerful than you think!
When someone hashtags #blessed on social media, what kind of photos usually accompany this label? A great vacation? A perfect family photo? An expensive new purchase? Jesus has a few things to say about those who are #blessed according to His paradigm and it's quite a bit different than ours. If you are someone who is longing for, praying for, awaiting God's blessing in your life, this one's for you.
The Sermon on the Mount is said to be the most well known and least observed. Jesus had been proclaiming that the kingdom of God is at hand. Then at the right time, he sat his disciples down with hundreds of onlookers gathered and spoke of a new world dawning. Enter in and your life will begin a transformational process that only God himself can do. It speaks of the humble, the poor, those persecuted for the right reason, loving enemies, remaining faithful in marriages, doing to others what you would want others to do to you, of prayer, giving and fasting as signs of a vibrant relationship with God. Imagine a world where heaven meets the world. Welcome to the Sermon on the Mount. Settle in with us for a study that will change your perspective and life.
This week we will explore some of the most profound words of Jesus. The words he spoke to his disciples when he met them in the hidden room. The words that gave his disciples new life and sparked the life of the church. What are his words I am speaking of? "As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you." These words commissioned his disciples into a new life and a new way of living. Let's dive into this together.We are excited for our missions fair this week - all of our ministry partners are joining us! We are excited for our church to take the next step in living missionally, being sent by Jesus.
Whether we realize it or not (and mostly, we don't) each of us live our lives in an environment that forms us. We live as part of a culture and subcultures. We have relationships. We have habits. We consume information and entertainment. As we think about how to see God produce His kind of life in us by His grace through His Spirit, what kind of environment is best suited for the fruit of His Spirit? How do we cultivate that kind of environment in our actual lives? Join us as we finish up our mini-series, Transformed, with a look at Galatians 5:16-24 and learn to walk in the transforming presence and power of the Holy Spirit not only through an attitude of surrender, but also through cultivating a Spirit-friendly environment in our real, actual lives.
We're starting off the New Year asking an essential question: when it comes to following Jesus, what actually produces true, heart-level transformation? And, as we learned last week from 2 Corinthians 3:16-18, the burning core to the answer of this question is straightforward--we're transformed in and through the presence of God in the Holy Spirit. Yet, if you're like me, this raises even more questions. Namely, how do I actually come to experience more of the Spirit's presence and power in my life? Join us as we look at Romans 12:1-2 and learn together what it practically looks to live under the influence of the Holy Spirit.
Even for those of us who don't make resolutions, each of us come into the New Year with aspirations for what we hope will come in 2025. And our social media feeds and favorite thought leaders are ready with helpful content for implementing new habits and accomplishing goals. But when it comes to following Jesus, what actually produces true, heart-level transformation? How does the life of Jesus get into our life? How do we become who God made us to be? Join us as we start 2025 with a three week mini-series building a biblical framework for transformation as disciples of Jesus, starting with a teaching from 2 Corinthians 3:16-18 on being transformed in God's presence.
Luke 2:11 says it all. Essentially God came near. In the city of David, the Savior of the world is born, Christ the Lord. A person. A particular individual, God in human form has come near to us. We could never find God, as hard as we look, without Jesus. You could spend your whole life searching for God and never find Him, unless you look in the manger.
More than any other holiday or season, Christmas is filled with singing! What other has its own genre of music where top artists put out the same 10 Christmas songs?! Christmas should be filled with singing! For there is no better way to respond to the Christmas narrative than to sing songs of joy and wonder! This is what Luke records for us in his Gospel account. In Luke's nativity narrative, key characters burst out in songs of praise and adoration - Mary, Zechariah, the Angels, and Simeon. Just as they should when they are responding to and comprehending the Christmas miracle! After focusing on the first three characters this Advent season, it is time to turn to the last song - Simeon's song of praise when he held the 6 week old Jesus in his arms. Let's tune our ears to Simeon's song in order to move our hearts into the miracle of Christmas. For this miracle will provide joy to the world!
In Luke 2:1-20, the heavens become visible, angels, powerful heavenly beings appear to reveal the exact first time of the gospel of Jesus Christ. A heavenly message for an earthly realm. People say the gospel is a human fairly tale. Yeah sure. Watch manly shepherds, common to most dangerous terrain surrounding Jerusalem. These men were used to dangers we know nothing about. Armed with a staff, they protected the vulnerable. This is a man’s world upon which the message of “peace on earth” will reign. It’s easy to make war. Peace takes other worldly power. Men of peace have seen the heavens open and monstrous beings ascend and descend. Beasts more powerful than anything we could ever imagine. I love when people say the Christmas story is a wimpy message for weak people who need a prop. They will be peeing in their pants when Jesus returns with a heavenly army. For all you wimps who believe in a fairly tale, you’ve seen a touch of the heavenly realm and are among the mighty. Do not be ashamed. Do not be frightened. You have been given a future of the eternal future.
It was C.S. Lewis who famously said, "It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” Lewis' observation raises some important questions: What kind of desires were we made for? What is the sweet spot of life for our time and place? These are exactly the kinds of questions raised in the text for our next teaching in our Advent series. Join us as we together learn from Luke 1:67-80.
Confession: I have been listening to Christmas music since late July. Additional confession: I’ve actually been listening to Christmas music since March.As it turns out, the Scriptures have me beat by more than two millennia! Join us as we begin our advent season with a teaching series entitled, “Advent - Christmas Canticles and Carols.” As a church, we are going to devote the next four weeks to listening to, learning from, and celebrating with the most ancient inspired Christmas songs! Let’s ponder and praise along with Mary’s “Magnificat.”
Can I just say... last weekend was POWERFUL! To get to know, to share, and to pray with each other was meaningful, encouraging, and holy. This week we'll continue talking about how this love of God in us overflows from the church to our neighborhoods, the South Bay, and beyond. It's another weekend you won't want to miss!
Graham Vermooten has been in missions for over 40 years. He speaks at conferences and travels consulting non profit mission start ups, to level up and become sustainable where possible. He has inspiring stories and will share from a passage out of the gospels that reveals to us what it takes to walk on water. Peter wanted to be like Jesus. Little did he know it would require him to take the next step. This story is so famous it is repeated by three of the four gospel writers. (Matthew 14:22-33, Mark 6:45-52, John 6:16-21)
We are all being formed into something. Spiritual formation is not a choice, it is a reality. We are all becoming someone through the sources we expose ourselves to, the people we are around, and the goals we direct our lives towards. So, if we are all being formed, the question then becomes who we are formed into? Executive coaches and psychologists have helpfully noted that we become the summation of the 5 people closest to us. The five people in our inner circle, who we surround ourselves with day in and day out, affect our behaviors and character, or goals and dreams - it shapes who we are.This all changes when Jesus enters the scene. It surely changed for the disciples when they started following Jesus. They were becoming more like him the more time they spent with him. And so too with us. When we are with Jesus, the more we become like him. The more we become what Jesus was defined by - LOVE.
A recent New York Times piece detailed the goals and game plan of one young professional pursuing self improvement. It was the sort of immaculately strategized daily schedule that would make the most goal oriented among us giddy with excitement, the sort of thing one would assume to produce dazzling results. Except, the culminating line of a detailed list of personal goals, strategic planning, and productivity hacks reads like this: "So far, she admitted, “none of this has stuck.”" This experience--one that many of us can relate to through the lens of religious burn out, anxious striving, and moralistic pressure--begs an important question for life following Jesus: How can we actually become like Jesus? Join us as we look at Matthew 11:25-30, continuing our look at the call to discipleship by seeing how the invitation to life with Jesus is simultaneously the path to becoming like him.
We will look at one of the most famous passages of gospel Scripture ever spoken by Jesus to his disciples. "Abide in me. Apart from me you can do nothing". John 15. Read it. It’s good.Now you might be asking, why are we still talking about being with Jesus? Haven’t we beaten this with a stick? Can’t we please move on to becoming like Jesus, or doing as Jesus did? Let’s get practical. Let’s get after it. There’s so much we need to be doing and so much we need to learn from the Bible. Yes, that’s true if you are just a brain on a stick, filling your head with more truth.Do you know you die of over drinking water? Over hydration? Well I suggest this: How about getting priority one clear first? How about doing what Jesus said? Abide in me for apart from me, no matter how many verse by verse bible sermons you hear, how many books you read, you will do nothing. Oh, and Jesus said, you won’t bear any fruit. That’s a dismal outcome. No fruit. A fruitless Christian life. But hey, you’re smart and very wise and have heard a lot of good sermons. Sorry for being so crass. The point is this: to abide is everything. How to stay connected to Jesus is the whole thing. Fruitfulness comes from this abiding.I once read a book because of its title. It was something like, “It is impossible to live the Christian life.” Or at least that was the point. You can’t live the Christian life. I was intrigued by that statement. Are you not having a very fruitful Christian life experience? Are you finding the Christian life impossible to live? Let’s find how to change that. It’s about following Jesus as a way of life. It starts with getting abiding right.
Greetings River Church, my brothers and sisters! On Monday I turn 70. This number is daunting to me; I’m certain that the whole Y2K computer challenge mysteriously added 10 years to my life. But a number of years ago, Cynthia and I decided that 70 would be an appropriate date to “retire.” Can a pastor every really retire? We can change our position, but we don’t give up our calling. I am called to be a pastor for the rest of my life. But now is a necessary time for transition. I have been honored to be one of your pastors, and to partner with Todd and Denise and our whole team these last 10 years. But, it is time to pass on my part of the leadership of our church to a younger generation. The future is bright for the River; her best days are likely ahead, and we have so many gifted young leaders here! I am going to attempt to share with you three big macro changes that Jesus is gently, but relentlessly, bringing about in my discipleship and pastoral calling. These have also turned into passions I have for the church, for our church. They will be framed as correctives to mostly unintentional swings in the broader evangelical church, but also in the specific ways we as individuals follow the way of Jesus. My hopeful prayer is that this will bring you encouragement and prompt questions and excitement about the future.
Our community of curious and committed, and maybe even confused, people of faith are in the midst of a Fall exploration of the trails and tributaries Jesus leads us on as we choose to follow him. On a personal note, I am speaking the next two Sunday’s as I turn 70 and make a big transition from full-time pastoral ministry into a part-time role at The River. I intend to attempt to bring attention to two parts of my own discipleship: the cost of following Jesus and how that cost has shaped my pastoral ministry over the last five decades. I am going to tell a story about a trip when I was 27 years old, leading a public-school mountaineering class near Big Sur, and had a tragic accident. Every day since, this experience has shaped my understanding of what it means to pay a price for choosing to follow Jesus, including as a pastor in the local church. I share my story with the hopes that you will discover that even though following Jesus does not exempt us from pain, it does bring hope that Jesus is right with us in the midst of this journey. Every step of the way.
This is the sermon for the overworked business person, the exhausted parent, the anxious student, the frustrated, discouraged, and hopeless. Have you ever felt stuck in your spiritual growth? Or how about in life in general? Life is busy. All my time and money and energy is accounted for. I want to grow and I want to love God and make changes but where do I even begin? I can’t add one. more. thing. If you’ve felt or thought this before, this Sunday is for you.
When it comes to the Jesus-following life, there are centuries of opinions, ideas, rumors, party lines, and long-held assumptions about what it looks like to apprentice Jesus of Nazareth. I want to preach a sermon I’ve entitled “Following Jesus: Two Truths and a Lie.” Join us as we ask those ancients who knew him best for their help in sorting out fact from fiction!
Vision Sunday. When the people have no vision they perish. I doubt they actually perish. But it most certainly leads to mass confusion as to the direction to go. We plan to present to you a well thought through path to take forward from here, meaning you, and us together as attenders of the River church. I have been leading this church now for over 17 years. We’ve had great vision. We’ve seen God change hearts, heal, comfort, reach, and exhort people to action. If I were to take a step back and take a good look at our fantastic community, it’s filled with amazing memories of life altering moments. Kids, families, new comers, neighbors, and people around the world have been impacted by our willingness to be used by our Lord, Jesus. Well done church community, friends. Well done. Now onward. An exciting future of following Jesus and becoming like Him awaits us if we decide together to give it all we got. Not lean back and coast but charge forward. Jesus in John 1:35-50 meets young people seeking God. They were hungry for real answers, truth that changes lives, for something more than the status quo. Jesus invited them to follow Him. They didn’t know, couldn’t have known where that might lead, but it was a good choice. The best decision of their lives. Let’s listen in and learn and do the same for the rest of our years on this earth. It worked then.
Join us for part two as we continue our discussion on Matthew 4. Believing that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world should not be any different than coming to the conclusion that Jesus is your Savior. And, can I add, making a firm commitment to follow this Savior Jesus throughout the rest of this life and into the next. In other words, believing it is the same as living it. When Jesus walked along that shore in Galilee and saw those young men fishing with their fathers and called them to come and follow him, he was essentially saying, “You believe I’m the messiah, the Savior of the world don’t you? Then let’s go!” These young men didn’t ask where, how, or why. The when was now. The rest would be answered in time. If you claim to know Jesus as your Savior, then the when is now. I will continue to explain what that looks like.
Believing that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world should not be any different than coming to the conclusion that Jesus is your Savior. And, can I add, making a firm commitment to follow this Savior, Jesus throughout the rest of this life and into the next. In other words, believing it is the same as living it. When Jesus walked along that shore in Galilee and saw those young men fishing with their fathers and called them to come and follow him, he was essentially saying, “You believe I’m the Messiah, the Savior of the world don’t you? Then let’s go!” These young men didn’t ask where, how, or why. The when was now. The rest would be answered in time. If you claim to know Jesus as your Savior, then the when is now. I plan to explain what that looks like.
We live in the loneliest time and place on record--that was the conclusion of a study conducted a few years ago. The percentage of Americans who report feelings of loneliness is the highest on record and the number of those who report zero close personal confidants has tripled since the 1980s. Even many of those of us who are relationally connected live busier and more spread out lives than ever before. As we near the end of our series learning to see the big story of Scripture, this all begs a question: What does the redemptive story of Jesus have to do with the relational climate of a place like the South Bay in 2024? Join us as we continue our series, You Are Here, by learning from Ephesians 4:1-16 at how the finished work of Jesus and the presence of the Holy Spirit produce not just saved individuals, but a saved people who are becoming what we have been called to be together.
Did you know that God did not send His son to live and die and be raised from the dead just so that we could believe and go to heaven one day? You read that right. God did not create us just to be with Him in the future. He created us and made a way for us to be with him now and forever. What does it mean to be in a relationship with God? What does it look like to live by His power? What does it feel like to allow Him to lead and guide us and our lives?This week we're going to explore the gift and observe the power of the Holy Spirit!
If our summer adventure through the story of the scriptures was an 80’s or 90’s sports movie (think Rocky, Hoosiers, or the cinematic masterpiece that is The Mighty Ducks 2)—we have finally reached the tipping point in the plot wherein the musical score changes from discouragement to hope. It’s that part where the protagonists courageously get to their feet with a look of resolve shining in their eyes and, finally, start to visibly win the contest. Gosh I love those scenes! In the last two weeks of our “summer blockbuster,” You Are Here, we have witnessed Messiah Jesus do battle with the seemingly insurmountable opponent that is death and corruption. He courageously and compassionately enters into the human predicament, lives a remarkable life of caring for the afflicted, proclaiming and exemplifying God’s goodness, and dies as a substitutionary sacrifice for all of our benefit. This episode takes us to the empty tomb of Messiah Jesus and invites us to consider the radical hope that bursts forth from that vacant space—not just hope that things might get a little bit better, but the audacious hope that somehow, in Jesus, God is making all things new. Let’s stand up and cheer our way through this glorious scene!
Draw near to God! Draw Near! We have confidence to enter into the very presence of God through the blood of Jesus, through his role as our High Priest. Confidence to enter the Holy of Holies, to enter the most sacred space, to enter into the source of all life, to enter into the presence of The Holy Other, to enter into the presence of Love Itself, to enter into participation within the very life of the Triune God! In writing this, my heart cannot leap and proclaim: Glory! Glory! Glory! DRAW NEAR! Because of Jesus we can draw near. Why would you not?Let's explore the life of Jesus as the atoning sacrifice - the means by which all things are restored, and the means by which we can draw near to God in the full assurance that faith brings.
"I can't believe I did this again." Has that thought ever run through your mind? That thing you swore you'd never do or say again, that thing you thought you had grown past, has reared its ugly head again. The Old Testament comes to a close with a glaring tension: God has promised redemption for humankind, but the same heartsickness of sin that has infected all of humankind is just as much at work in the children of Israel, the people to whom God had revealed himself, given His promises and commandments and sworn to use in His plan of salvation. If even God's people continue to mistrust God, what hope can there be? It's against this backdrop that the New Testament introduces us to Jesus of Nazareth, the one who has suffered as we have suffered and been tempted as we have been tempted, yet who has succeeded where we have failed. Join us as we learn what this means and why this matters for our lives today as we continue our deep dive into the big story of Scripture by looking at Luke 4:1-13 and seeing Jesus, the Truly Human One.
I've been pondering two words that keep coming up in my conversations and reading: Contingency and Agency. They are two words that we can hold in tension for a healthy, thriving life. When out of balance, they can lead to hardship, even tragedy. Contingency partially means that our life is dependent on certain circumstances and behavior, and ultimately on God. We are not in complete control of our lives, but there are some universal laws, that if followed, will more likely lead to thriving. Agency is often used to describe our ability to control our capacity to influence our life choices and direction.We as humans, are both contingent and have agency. This tension is central to the story of Israel as a people of Image-Bearers who represent God for the good of the world. The same is true for you and for me. Let's consider what we are calling “Exile and Return.” Israel repeatedly chose stubborn agency over humble contingency. There were consequences, but not without hope. Our hope ultimately finds it home in Jesus.
How many of you have started "the Bible in a year," read through Genesis and Exodus, and have gotten lost somewhere in Leviticus, Numbers, or Deuteronomy? If that's you: Hi, me too. Also... you're in for a treat because the next part of the story is one of the most action-packed, jaw-dropping, wild-ride adventures in Scripture and many of us have never read all of it. Join us as we trace the rise and fall of 40 kings who run Israel into the ground, a handful of prophets who are sent to turn things around, and a faithful God who loves His people too much to let them go.
Who do you have for the November fight: Mike Tyson or Jake Paul? Paul, a young gun who specializes in hubris, vs. Tyson, a tried and true fighter. It will be an epic showdown that will be one of the most watched fights in history. Thanks Netflix! It will be fun to watch! This week we are going to watch an even greater showdown - one of the greatest fights in history: The LORD vs. Pharaoh. The LORD, who is seeking to rescue his people from injustice, vs. Pharaoh, the oppressor. This fight, and The LORD's victory becomes one of the primary identity markers for the people of Israel, and an essential part in the Biblical story. Join us to hear how the Exodus fits into the large unified narrative that all leads to Jesus.
Our voyage as a church through the big, beautiful biblical story has thus far been like every long road trip I’ve ever been on: the very first part is a thrill! You cross the city limits, begin to feel like you’re on vacation, out of the same-old, same-old, and your eyes look to the horizon with optimism and energy as you consider the grand journey you are undertaking. Then, after a couple hours, your initial enthusiasm is slowly and inevitably smothered by Barstow. Your trek’s terrain moves from promising and dynamic to monotonous and monochromatic. You begin to wonder if you should have just flown instead. For many of us following the “You are Here” series, episodes of Creation, Fall, Promise, and Exodus are the interesting scenic spots early in the trip. Biblical Law—our destination for this week—on the other hand, can easily fall into that “Barstow” category: “thou shall, thou shall not”; technical iron-age instructions on everything from oxen and food purity to hygiene and scheduling. What do we do with these long scrolls besides speed through or skip right over them? This Sunday, we are going to discover that what at first appears to be a long, strange stretch of ritual literature was absolutely treasured by our ancient ancestors in the faith for a reason. Let’s explore the power and purpose of torah in the larger story and in the story of our lives as followers of Jesus!-James
Who do you have for the November fight: Mike Tyson or Jake Paul? Paul, a young gun who specializes in hubris, vs. Tyson, a tried and true fighter. It will be an epic showdown that will be one of the most watched fights in history. Thanks Netflix! It will be fun to watch!This week we are going to watch an even greater showdown - one of the greatest fights in history: The LORD vs. Pharaoh. The LORD, who is seeking to rescue his people from injustice, vs. Pharaoh, the oppressor. This fight, and The LORD's victory becomes one of the primary identity markers for the people of Israel, and an essential part in the Biblical story. Join us to hear how the Exodus fits into the large unified narrative that all leads to Jesus.
We are continuing our fly-over look at the unifying story of the Bible, in a series we are calling “You Are Here.” Join us in Genesis 12, location... Abraham.If we trace our ancestors back far enough, each of us will likely find a pivotal moment when a decision was made to uproot the family, leave behind the familiar, and venture into a land they knew little about. Their decision had consequences for us. My great-great-grandfather made the voyage, in the 1800s, from Scotland to eastern Canada, then down into upstate New York, and eventually across into Oregon. My grandfather distributed tires in Portland. He also joined with four buddies to form an evangelistic team, occasionally venturing up the Alaskan Yukon River. My dad left home, went to grad school at Berkeley, then took a job starting Cal State Palos Verdes, which became Cal State University Dominguez Hills. If not for the cross-ocean voyage of my great-great grandfather, I would not have grown up surfing the beaches and point breaks of the South Bay. I might be a sheep-farmer in the Scottish Highlands.Abraham made a journey that literally impacted the entire world. He got a mission from God, and Jesus told us it is our mission too.
We have started a very fast pace through the Bible narrative. We are telling the grand story of the Bible, from creation, to the fall, and God’s plan of redemption. We are in phase two, the fall, on Fathers Day of all days. Dads, do not despair, it’s not all your fault. So the fall. A traumatic sob story of utter failure. All that God created as good now has been lost. Milton is right, paradise lost, but not for long. What we did in 7 short verses, God reverses in the remaining biblical narrative starting at Gen 3:8. In one sense it was all part of the plan in order to get Jesus. I’m not saying God did it or wanted it to happen this way but knew something in his unfashionable wisdom that we could never see. Free choice brings out our rebellious sportiest but not to worry, Jesus will make all wrongs right again. So the fall. It was inevitable.And please remember our church as you pray about how to use your resources for God’s good. Consider this: God expects us to give because he knows the benefits that come from giving. Give and it will be given to you.We have raised about $500k of a $1.7k budget, so far. We are reaching families and friends in our community for Christ. It’s our purpose and mission. Join us.
What is really, really, real (ultimate reality)? Is there a Creator and, if so, what is that Creator like? What is that Creator into? Why did the Creator create? Who are you? Why are you? Where are you? Why does any of it matter? Questions like these have been asked and answered by humans for tens of thousands of years with almost every generation asking them afresh. This Sunday we are going to ponder a strange and fascinating inspired literary masterpiece from the ancient world—Genesis 1. As we continue our summer series seeking to wrap our hearts and minds around the big narrative of the Bible, we will begin our journey at the most fitting starting point—the beginning. Join us as we resituate Genesis 1 into its native ancient-near-eastern habitat and consider its main messages for God’s people through the ages.
Whether we're conscious of it or not, each of us lives from a story on the nature of things--a story of what is true and good and worth living for. Which begs the questions: What story am I really living from? Is that story true? The 66 books of the Bible form a unified true story of creation, fall, redemption and coming new creation all centered on Jesus and the process of following Jesus is a lifelong journey of internalizing that true story more and more. Each Sunday this summer, we'll be taking a look at each chapter of that unfolding story and learning how each section of the Bible fits together to tell a story centered on Jesus. And along the way we'll learn some tools from The Bible Project to help us navigate Scripture and read it more confidently ourselves so that over a lifetime, the freeing story of Scripture becomes the story we truly live from.
We live in an age of punditry and “posting” that encourages us to evaluate everything in real time. Is this decision good or bad? Is this person right or wrong? Is this effort worthwhile or wasteful? Kendrick or Drake? Tell me! Quick! Make up your mind! Opine! Post! Now before the news cycle/trend/fashion/cause-of-the-day changes!Wisdom, and biblical wisdom in particular, warns against such haste. When it comes to understanding and learning from a leader, we often cannot fully evaluate such a character until history patiently proves his or her legacy. We will close off our micro-series on the life of King David by considering his life from the perspective of Israel’s subsequent kings. What really distinguished David from these many Israelite leaders? What about his long life and legacy distinguished him as one after God’s own heart? And how might we posture and prioritize our own lives for a truly meaningful legacy?
So, we have established that David is a man after God‘s own heart, yes, the David that swayed from the path. Let’s talk more about the heart. Are our hearts, corrupt and get a complete makeover when we meet Jesus and then everything is hunky-dory? Or are there factors that contribute to a healthy heart? Heart disease is the number one killer in America. Take care of your heart is the word of advice. Your actual heart and your spiritual one as well. David is a study of heart health.
It’s Mother’s Day and we don’t want to miss the moment. We plan to honor our moms that make us all who we are today. Count on that. As we talked, it might be nice to have one of our women teachers focus on motherhood, but we are not sure if we can pull that off. I had planned to teach introducing us to the life of David, King David, the young David who became king. He was described as a person after God’s own heart, not once, but twice. I planned to talk about what made him that kind of a person. It was in the interior of his life he formed the kind of person he became and his influence was the outcome. This is true if you are a person who works outside the home or if you are a mom or dad who cares for kids in the home. Thinking of mom’s, it could also apply to their role as well. A mom’s desired outcome is launching emotionally and spiritually healthy kids. The way to that goal is through the interior of their lives, much like David. So, even if we don’t pull off a mother’s day message, my message will apply to you moms and all women. Rest assured.
This work series has been one of my all time favorites, but it felt like something was missing for me. What about the work I do that takes my greatest focus, the most patience, the longest time, all of the energy, and has the highest stakes? RAISING KIDS.For many of us, there's a big old chunk of life that (has been, is, or will be) spent waking up in the middle of the night, making lunches, mediating arguments, managing drop offs and pick ups, teaching babies and kids and teenagers and adult children how to live... and this is work too.If you’re a parent, this. is. for. you. If you’re not a parent but you’re a part of our church community, this is also for you! What does it look like to dedicate our lives to the work of raising the next generation to know and love Jesus?
I love trees. Their grandeur as they reach for the sky paints a beautiful picture of how we, and the whole creation, were made to worship the Creator. Two trees stand out among the many described in our Scriptures. They are both called “the tree of life,” and one starts the Bible story, and the other emerges at the very end, both in a Garden. We can tell and begin to understand the big arc of our story by learning from these two trees. They anchor our place in the future unfolding drama of what the prophet Isaiah and the apostle John in the Revelation called a “new heaven and a new earth.” What will life be like for those who follow Jesus in the renewed creation? Specifically, what will our work be like after Jesus returns to make all things new? We might wish the Bible were more specific, but it chooses to give us tantalizing sign-posts along the trail that call for us to exercise a communal sacred imagination. Let’s do that together as we consider our calling in work in light of the declaration, “No longer will there be any curse.” [Revelation 22:3]
Here’s an interesting question. So what’s the difference between the Christ follower and the non Christ follower as it relates to our work? Is there such a difference as a Christian baker, a non Christian lawyer, a Christian plumber, and a non Christian surgeon? I hope not. Especially when it comes to law and medicine. John Wesley said, do good, and do no harm along the way. Maybe the one mark that someone is a Christ follower? Martin Luther believed that God’s loving care comes to us largely through the labor of others. Work in other words is a major instrument of God’s providence. Someone tried to make his own sandwich, literally. It took him six months and $1,500. Think about the implications of that. In creation, we were given the honor to perfect what God has made. For what ends? That’s what I want to look at.
Join us as we venture further into our exploration of that thing we spend so much of our lives in, on, and around: work. Last week we examined the scriptural prescription for a healthy posture toward work. We dreamed about being workers who, in our various fields and occupations, go about our business with a quiet confidence, bringing a calm and peace to our respective work atmospheres (1 Thessalonians 4:11). If last week was about a healthy life posture toward work, this week we begin exploring the why(s) of work! Why do we work? To what ends or purposes does scripture assign our jobs? Let’s have a life-reflective blast!!!
Often, one of the biggest chasms in the life of a modern follower of Jesus is the great canyon between Sunday and Monday. Sunday, you gather with your brothers and sisters in Christ, do Christian things like sing worship songs, pray, or hear from scripture, and maybe you go home with a little more spiritual fuel in your tank and some inspiration to listen to the Holy Spirit more attentively in the week to come. Then comes Monday. Work or school, errands and emails, homework and housework. Our default setting can sometimes be to see the school/work week as something through which we hold our breath, try to not sin so much, and squeeze in those “Christian” moments like a bible study or an on-the-way-to-work sermon podcast. What if, however, that all-too-familiar workweek is actually sacred time? What if being a “Christian” at work is not so much about putting a cross up at your desk or hosting that lunch-hour bible study with your Christian colleagues? What if representing Jesus at work has everything to do with the actual work you are doing? Join us as we take flight in a new series exploring the relationship between work and faith. This week, let’s begin to consider how we might bridge the gaping Sunday-Monday gap!
The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the confluence of two powerful realties. Both are like strong rivers that flow together to form headwaters that we call the Resurrection. As rivers collide, a stronger one emerges, bringing even wilder, more powerful forces upon nature. So the Resurrection does in our lives. It moves like rushing waters over our souls and brings a greater experience of abundance and eternal hope.
As the River Church walks together towards Easter Sunday, we are pondering the manifold relevancies of the resurrection. Last Sunday, Brooke powerfully brought us into a conversation between Jesus and Martha about resurrection. We took time in our gathering to reflect on the implications of the resurrection for our past, present, and future. This week, we are going to listen in on a conversation between Jesus and the Father. In addition to considering how the resurrection life of Jesus speaks into the major milestones of our lives, let’s consider how the resurrection might breathe life into the little stuff. What does Christ’s new life have to do with our old habits? What happens when resurrection mercy collides with the mundane? How might the hope of Easter furnish new lenses through which to see the all-too-familiar? Join us as we consider these questions and take time to reflect on the resurrection in the routine.
Easter's coming up (it's in March this year?!) and so is that big Christian word we talk about every Easter... the "resurrection." Many of us who have spent time in the church know what the resurrection was and even what it means, but I've been wondering... are our lives any different because of it? We are going to take a little time and make a little space to respond to the truth and to invite the Lord to lead us in how to live in light of it.
Marco Polo met the great Kahn, Gengis Kahn, the leader of the Mongol Empire during the early 1100’s. He asked the secret to his military might. He said he trains his officers to take care of their men before they take care of themselves. And my generals take care of their horse before themselves. Officers lead by doing. Generals lead by example. Two important truths about leadership and mentorship, shepherdship. Now for the church. I Peter 5:1-6 could not be more significant to the success of The River in the next ten years. Shepherds, shepherd the flock. Bill MacPhee lead us through this important passage for our church last week. I want to revisit it and look again at how we shepherd the flock. It comes down to mentorship, the art of being more concerned for another than yourself. The church is always one generation away from extinction. Could we have a more important task at hand? I want to underscore, highlight, and bold this message. River Church, let’s get after it! It’s that important. The Christian faith is a team sport. It’s not about you and Jesus, it’s about you and Jesus and someone else.
We often describe The River Church as “highly (hopelessly) relational.” Is this true? I think so. But, it can easily come across as trite, just another marketing cliché. We are bombarded with immense content, endless notifications, and soul-sucking and bending algorithms. The River Church is a local church, made up of real, if not flawed, humans, and we are learning to love each other, by following the words and ways of Jesus, for the good of our neighbors. The real River is not an institution, a business, or a building; it’s us, the people. As Peter concludes his first letter to his community of followers of Jesus, he ends with an appeal to three groups: those older in Jesus, those younger in Jesus, and to everyone in his hearing. As a seasoned apostle, one who had seen and shared in the suffering of Jesus, he wants the olders to care authentically, the youngers to follow this example, and for everyone to let humility permeate their relationships. Peter says this is part of the way a local church becomes highly relational and a good for their community. You can read about it in 1 Peter 5:1-11.
Having spent the majority of his medical career serving disenfranchised communities in India, the doctor Paul Brand made this striking observation after his return to the United States: "Patients [in the U.S.] lived at a greater comfort level than any I had previously treated, but they seemed far less equipped to handle suffering and far more traumatized by it.” This statement is not meant to shame or insult in any way, but it does carry a very important observation: the lens through which we view life will give us either stronger or weaker resources for navigating the realities of heartache, disappointment, suffering and injustice. Yet, as we'll see from 1 Peter 4:12-19, in a cultural moment that offers relatively shallow resources for navigating suffering, the way of Jesus gives us strong resources to hopefully endure the real pain of suffering as we frame it in light of the true story of fall and redemption, see in it the purifying purposes of God, and experience in it the mysterious, suffering love of Jesus.
Peter wants us to be ready to make a defense of the hope that lies within us. Yet, with gentleness and reverence. For a non religious person, the idea that Jesus came from heaven as God, died on a cross for our sins and rose again so we might have new life seems to be utterly ridiculous. Paul says we are fools for Christ. Madness. And yet, we are to get across to them what it is we believe most profoundly. How? If we look at the context of this exhortation, we see that we are to be the royal priesthood of a new temple before we can proclaim about its excellencies. Our being precedes our telling. Our greatest defense is a good offense. As we saw displayed in this year’s Super Bowl, you can defend all day long but until you advance, you can’t win. Going on the offense is understanding that we are Christ embodied emissaries living out a new narrative way before we open our mouths and make a defense of what we believe and why.
It's not hard to see how life with Jesus gives personal comfort and purpose, but what resources does life with Jesus give for our actual day to day in the real world? What does the way of Jesus have to do with our romantic life, or building a career, or going out with friends, or changing diapers, or being a neighbor, or participating as a citizen? How does it shape the way we navigate a world that was created good, but is not all that God made it to be--a world that is no longer a place of flourishing only, but now also of heartache, suffering, injustice and sin? Join us as we continue our teaching series on 1 Peter with a look at 1 Peter 2:11-3:7 and learn together the major posture shift that life with Jesus gives for navigating the real world.
Someone needs to. The world is in desperate need of someone to do the right thing. We have become a world of bad news. But, so much good is happening, it’s just not making the headlines. And most of it by good people, many who are followers of Christ who chose to do something good in the world as opposed to those who cause problems. Peter tells us in our passage what it takes. Three things. The Word, a good church community, and a new identity as modern day mediators. Then, he shows the three arenas in society in which this is accomplished. I’d rather be known for being the solution, not the problem in the world today. You too?
Dr. W Gruden writes in his systematic theology, “Because there is sin that still remains in our hearts even though we have become Christians (Rom. 6:12-13; I John 1:8), our sanctification (fancy work for spiritual growth) will never be completed in this life.” Yet, Peter says to us straight up, “Be holy in all your conduct.” (I Peter 1:15). And to add to this haunting task, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” (I Peter. 1:16). Well, there you go. Be holy because God is holy. Peter is quoting the Old Testament in Leviticus 11:44. The rest of the verse reminds us to not make ourselves unclean with any of the swarming things that swarm on the earth. Oh, that’s good. Stay away from slimy, swarming things and you’ll be good. Seriously, what is Peter telling us to do and is this even possible to be holy as God is holy?
The born again movement began in the mid 70s with three important events. Chuck Colson’s prison born again conversion post watergate, President Jimmy Carter’s self identification as a born again Christian and Billy Graham’s book, How to be Born Again. This movement changed the landscape of the Christian religion and catapulted it out of the dark ages. Hippies were coming to Jesus. Can you imagine that? Hippies! Maybe even a few cowboys too. So what does the Bible say about this term born again?
There's an important framework from both our life with Jesus and--in God's good design--the psychology of motivation: our identity directs our energy. How we think of ourselves tends to shape how we actually live. So what kind of identity will lead to the most flourishing? More to the point for those committed to following Jesus: who does God say that we are? And what implications does that have for how we actually live our lives? Join us as we begin a new teaching series from the book of 1 Peter with a teaching on 1 Peter 1:1-2 on identity and the sweet spot of life.
As we turn the corner into another calendar year, my first instinct as an optimistic preacher is to celebrate the high points of 2023 and anticipate the graces and glories of 2024. But, what about all the hard parts? What do we do with the pains and disappointments? Join us as we have an honest, year-ending conversation with the scriptures about putting pain in its proper place.
“Oh, come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord.”This line from a timeless Christmas hymn captures exactly our posture for the entire service at the River Church of the South Bay. Whether in the afterglow of the children’s play at 10:30 or following a few worship songs sung with the backdrop of the Pacific Ocean at 8:30, let’s adore the King of it all! Let us recognize what those shepherds, magi, and angels saw in this small child: the true ruler of Israel, the authoritative king of the cosmos, and if we have the courage and clarity to allow Him in, the brilliant and benevolent Lord of our 21-century lives.
If someone were to ask you, why did Jesus come to earth, what would you say? To save the world from their sins? To guide us as a moral teacher? To turn things around on earth? We’ve established that Jesus came to be king and bring God’s kingdom to earth through his followers, both Jewish converts and Gentiles. I want to look at Matthew 1, John 1:14 and John 3:16 and answer this question specifically. What kind of king? A saving king and a present king. We’ll see that in his names. A name says a lot about someone. In the Old Testament, names indicated not only identity, but also purpose. The purpose of Jesus' arrival as we celebrate Him this Christmas is two-fold. He is the savior of the world and He brings God’s presence to earth. Why are these important to us? Because the two problems in the world today are solved in Jesus. We are lost and we are alone. We need saving and we need comfort.I will also remind you as we approach year end, to please be considering a year end gift to the River Church of the South Bay. We hope to end well this year and make up for our losses last year and give our staff a deserved and modest cost of living adjustment for their salaries and meet our goals in giving worldwide through all our ministry affiliations and missionaries. We have all information on how to give below. We are set up to receive all kinds of gifts to the River. Please call or email the office if you have any questions.
Here’s how I landed on that title for our Christmas series - Finally Jesus. Jesus was not plan B in God’s way of thinking. He didn’t have a plan A, the garden and then something went wrong and he had to think of another plan. “Oh, I know, I’ll send Jesus and see if that works". Jesus was not some additive in a string of historical events. We have creation, then fall, then Israel, then exile, then, Jesus, then… Jesus is the finality of all things. He was the plan all along. Finally Jesus means, finally, God’s plan is coming to a close, a climax, an earth shattering conclusion. Everything God was planning for culminates in the arrival of Jesus, vis-a-vis, Christmas. Christmas is the culmination of God’s entire plan for His creation for all times. God wanted his creation to be a perfect kingdom, a fairy tale kingdom where everything alive lives in perfect symbiotic relationship with everything else and with its creator - a Bambi kind of kingdom where Babmi’s mom doesn’t die (sorry to ruin it for you) and Bambi doesn’t get hunted down by some horrible meat lover.True story, tangent alert. My dad was a big hunter. So he’d make a venison dish he called Bambi balls. He’d take venison and roll the ground meat into balls and sauce them in wine sauce, current jelly, port, and sherry and serve them in the sauce over noodles. Amazingly good.OK, back to my point. And so this perfect kingdom, only one thing was missing. The final piece was placed in thee puzzles that brings the entire puzzle into full perspective as it was intended. Are you with me? Is this too surreal? The one thing missing in God’s kingdom was a king. Jesus was born as king of God’s kingdom. At the exact moment of his birth, a new era was dawning. It was the finality of God’s plans to inaugurate his kingdom on a fallen earth. Ok. So what? So what? So... you play a role in that kingdom if you acknowledge Jesus as king. And if you don’t? Then you are free willed to be your own king over your own universe. Remember what happened to Israel when they refused to acknowledge God as their king? Jesus is King means you are not. And many of us just need to come to that place before we can play a role in God’s kingdom.
This week we are going to explore a well known parable about a compassionate Samaritan. You are probably well aware of the story, especially if you grew up in a church environment. But, we are going to let it speak to us afresh as we are invited to see if we are truly the type of person that exerts themselves generously in care for others. This parable is deeply convicting and compelling, and ultimately leads us to see Jesus, the Greater Samaritan whose compassionate heart saves us from the grave.
Happy Thanksgiving to all! Plans are underway for how we’ll gather with family to express gratitude for God’s gifts of abundance. Many of us brought our Hunger Heroes grocery bags, donating needed food for the Watts Powerhouse community.This is what Jesus wants us to do. He knows we can be part of the overwhelming and complex problem of ending world hunger. The world currently produces enough food to feed every person on the planet. Still 1 in 10 people go to bed hungry every night. I am tempted to look the other way, to give up on a problem so big. There is a line in the story of Jesus feeding the hungry 5,000 that grips me: He says to his disciples, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat” [Matthew 14:16]. We are learning from Our Compassionate Savior, so we’ll wrestle a bit with Jesus’ role and ours, in living a compassionate life; and we’ll experience his empowering belief in our responsibility and ability to make a right-sized response to the problems in front of us. Read the story of the feast in Matthew 14:13-31.
It’s another not so rare moment where Jesus interacts with someone outside of his countrymen. Jesus, the Rabbi, the Jew, the Messiah, the rightful King of the true kingdom leaves his own country of origin and enters the land of the final remnant of the Phoenician civilization and affirms the faith of a syrophonecian woman and her demon possessed daughter. A loaded situation. He crossed multiple barriers and essentially turned a dog into a woman. Jesus is the only one who can restore dignity where there is deep seated hatred and vehemence. Watch him enter into the chaos of the curse and turn it into a dazzling shimmer of hopefulness for a lost people.
"Ugh... I find Christianity to be deeply uninspiring." My new acquaintance meant no insult as her voice carried authentic frustration with her experience of Christianity. Though she had intellectual questions about faith, her main issue with the Christian message she had heard to that point in her life was not that she found it rationally unconvincing; her main issue is that she found it personally uncompelling. Experience tells me that this is not a feeling isolated to those who are not yet followers of Jesus--even many of us in the church quietly struggle to see the message of Jesus as relevant and compelling to our actual lives. Yet, the true Jesus of Scripture is nothing but compelling. Join us for a new teaching series--Our Compassionate Savior--as we learn to experience and live with the compassion of Jesus. We'll begin by seeing in Matthew 8:1-4 that the compassion of Jesus is personal.
It is enjoyable going to see a film with drama, conflict, and a nice resolution that helps us leave the theatre with a sense that our lives are going to work out all right. But if the story of Jonah were put to film, it ends with no such resolution. In fact, it doesn’t really end, and if you read it, you’ll find the last punctuation is a question mark. It is possible that the whole narrative leads to God asking us to be part of the ongoing story, to bring resolution to Jonah in our own interactions with the world around us. God asks, “Should I not have concern?” And it is as if he is asking us if we will have concern and compassion, not only for those we like, but maybe also for those we dislike the most. You can read the surprise twist in Jonah 3 and 4, and ponder why Jonah was so angry with God he wanted to die.
The saga of Jonah continues. He’s a wee little man that discovered you can’t run from God. How about this? Once there was a man named Jonah... you are wondering what rhymes with Jonah. On a beach without a Corona? From a small town near Pamona? Or something like that. In all seriousness, I do plan to share a clean limerick that I wrote about Jonah. It tells the story of his apprehension and God’s pursuit. What we discover in chapter 2 is now tucked away in the bowls of a fish, he’s alone, and has time to reconsider his ways. Tight spaces are conducive for smart conversations. Or, when stuck between a fish and a hard place, pray. It’s your only way out. Why do we resort to so many other devices when God just wants our attention? And what do we learn? Three things about his prayer that reveal he’s a changing man. Not perfect. Still angry. But changing. It's so much more than an evil nation turning to God. It’s about Jonah, really all of Israel, and even us, diving deeper into our solidarity with Him.Maybe even a short skit to illustrate Jonah’s frustration and process.
We’ve read the story of Jonah before. We know he disobeys God, gets thrown overboard and swallowed by a fish, and ultimately ends up in the place he was avoiding. But what is God's part in this story? Let’s look at the story of Jonah with eyes fixed on Him as we discover a relentless love that won’t let Jonah go (or stay!).
I've quoted it before and I'll quote it again, but it was the Scottish philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre who said, “I can only answer the question 'What am I to do? ' if I can answer the prior question 'Of what story or stories do I find myself a part?'” We can only navigate the ups and downs of life with resilient meaning if we understand what story we're a part of. For followers of Jesus, understanding our true story means asking, "What is God up to in my life?" But how can I identify what God is up to in my life? Join us as we begin a new teaching series in the book of Jonah with teaching from Jonah 1:1-10 by exploring the question, "What is God up to in my life?"
I am going to lay it all out on the table. I hope it’s not your first time at The River. I’ve been at this thing called ministry now for about thirty years. I’m going to say what I’ve been thinking but have been afraid to say about where I feel the church is at today and our spiritual maturity. I’m using the story of the widow who gave her only two lepton, mites, and threw them into the temple treasury. We'll look at Jesus' truly scandolous and absurd observation (Luke 21:1-4). Set within a context of injustice and inequality, a woman gives away all she has. Oh, we can’t actually take that literally, we’d miss our next vacation. I’m personally not messing around anymore. This series on generosity has changed my heart. I have taken some serious financial steps to be the widow for our family. Serious financial steps. And the series is not about getting you to give. But if you aren’t giving, you are not a generous person. More fully, God doesn’t want your check, he wants your entire life. It’s about living a fully surrendered, fully sacrificial life of generosity where everything you own and possess is turned over to God. He doesn’t want 10%, He is asking for you to trust him with the other 90%. And that’s where it gets really scary. No thanks. Not sure if you have been that changed by this series. Haven’t really heard that much feedback. But this will not be another day at The River. Sorry. I’m going to say what I am truly sensing is from the Lord to the church today.
Speaking of being a generous person, I often hear, I’ll be generous when. I actually don’t really hear that but I can honestly say, I know that’s what a lot of people think even if they don’t say it. It’s written all over their lives. I’ll be more generous when I get a little more ahead. Next year. But next year never seems to arrive. What if I told you that the Bible makes a case for those of us with means to adopt to a simpler way of life, not a more complicated one. Oh, don’t get me wrong, you can do as you please and please enjoy what you have, by all means. But also keep in mind where your life is leading to. It’s the long game. Annie Dillard once said, and I am paraphrasing since I can’t find the quote, something to the effect that the decisions and small choices you make every day make up the life that you end up living. Oh that’s good. Most people want a different outcome from their choices. We do one thing and want something entirely different to materialize from it. How obviously irrational. How do I know this? I see it every day. That’s why Paul says in I Timothy 6:6-10 and in 16-19 that the life we end up living, which always includes our money, is the life we choose. Chose wisely the kind of life you would have liked to have lived. This involves making some serious choices with money.
You know the story (or at least you can imagine it). Someone teaches on how Scripture calls us to be generous, an urgent financial need is presented--the "Big Ask"--a certain percentage of the group contributes financially to the cause, a need is met and everyone walks away unchanged, no more filled with love for God or others from having given. While it's certainly appropriate for followers of Jesus with a passion for a cause to invite others to give generously (see 2 Corinthians 9), I wonder if framing generosity primarily in terms of meeting needs falls short of Jesus' purposes for generosity. What if Jesus' way of generosity was not only about meeting needs, but also about who we are becoming? What if he is inviting us to consider how our relationship with our resources today is shaping who we become tomorrow? What if God cares so much about our eternal joy and His eternal glory that his invitation to live generously is actually about shaping us into the woman or man we were always meant to be? Join us as we continue our teaching series on Generosity by learning from Matthew 6:19-21 on Generosity as Formation.
I want you to do something radically different than maybe you were raised to do or heard you should do. Think of all that you have that God has given you to enjoy (I Timothy 6:17b). Your time, your health, and your wealth. Now think about the rest of your life. What is your best guess how long you will live? The American average is 77 years of age. I’m planning to 80. After that is gravy. Now that could be 50 more years, 40, 30, 20, or 10 for you. If it’s 10, add another 10 because you’ll probably live longer than 77, and that sounds really depressing.
OK, now plan out how you want to use your money to maximize your enjoyment of God and others in this life. Ask yourself, What do you want to do before you die?, what do you want to invest in?, how much do you want to leave to kids?, how much do you really need for retirement? Let’s talk about it. You have one life to live and I want to enjoy it. Now you might be thinking, this does not sound biblical. What part? Enjoying life? Investing in causes you believe in? Saving only what you need for the future? Leaving some behind for your kids? Sounds hedonistic? Really? To me it sounds inviting. I’m so done with the messaging framed by shame. “You should…” What? What should I do? Tell me oh wise one. I have an idea. Let’s consider the rich guy who had so much money that his response was to build a bigger barn. Did he do good? Luke 12:3-21. What did Jesus say he did wrong? What should he have done? This is all about practicing the biblical virtue of generosity. Being generous is more than simply writing a tithe check every week to your church or storing it all away for some future date that may never come. Oh, it’s so much more. If it doesn’t put a smile on your face, you may be sucking on a persimmon instead of ripe mango.
Let's take a step back from our 4-month series on spiritual disciplines and talk about why we are focusing on the disciplines in the first place. Why are we giving so much attention to the practices of prayer, scripture, simplicity, and generosity? The answer to this question lies in one of Jesus' most famous teachings in the Sermon on the Mount. In this magnificent sermon, Jesus gathers his disciples together and tells them that they are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. It is a call to be purified (to be holy), and a call to engage in the world in preservation and proclamation. This call will lead us into the spiritual disciplines.
Ok, so we have reached the end of our Simplicity series. Simplicity is a practice that makes you more spiritually mature, just as spending time in the Word of God, praying, and being generous (that’s our next series). As we conclude this practice, we decided to talk about the simple church. Simple doesn’t just apply to the Christian, it applies to us as a whole. And what do we mean by simple church? A church that focuses on its vision.
A few weeks ago, as a staff we met to talk about our vision as a church. What we discovered is that in order to be devoted to a simple vision for our church, we had to be willing to pull the big eraser out and remove some things we do that don’t align with that vision and add other things that do. Let’s look at both Isaiah 43:18-19 and Matthew 9:35-38 and talk about our vision.
For many in the South Bay, the default pace of life is frenetic--work hard, play hard, family life, the list goes on. In other words, the default pace of life for many of us is at odds with the kind of simplicity that is at the sweet spot of following Jesus. For others in the South Bay, life no longer moves so fast--some are in a season of life with more freedom of time. But even for those among us in a stage of life with fewer commitments, simplicity is more than mere margin, more than mere free time, and does not simply happen because we're young and single or because the kids are grown or because work has slowed down. So the question begging to be asked is this: What are the rhythms and habits of life from the way of Jesus that help grow simplicity? Enter the rhythms of (non-idealized) intentional, worshipful rest. Join us as we continue our Simplicity series with a teaching from Exodus 20:8-11 and Deuteronomy 5:12-15 as we consider The Liberating Practice of Sabbath.
Will the robots take over? When should I expect hoverboards? What is crypto and can I get my money back? How do I unmute myself? Can they tell if I’m “sharing” a Netflix account?
If you’re like me, you have questions about technology. Here at the River Church of the South Bay, we have answers. OK, so we might not discuss the above inquiries, but join us as we adventure further into our “Simplicity” series and see what ancient principles the Scriptures speak into the future of our 2023 technology!
If your heart is beating in 2023, your body and mind can give testimony that we live in an increasingly complex and crowded world. There are more beautiful opportunities and rushing demands than our bodies and calendars can manage. Yet, we keep on drinking from the fire hose of information, social media, schedules, hurry, excursions, demands, and temptations [tell your shame-gremlins to shut up; they don’t help]. The River Church is committed to learn from and follow both the words and ways of Jesus. He practiced, with intention, a Simple life, giving his mind, body, and heart to that which mattered most. Here is a simple definition from Joshua Becker: Simplicity is “the intentional promotion of the things we most value and the removal of everything that distracts us from them.” Let's consider how Jesus lived with Simple Time, learning from his interactions in Mark 1:35-39.
One of the best parts of camp were our conversations around the book of Daniel. We studied the book of Daniel and asked the question: how do we live faithfully in a culture that is against our beliefs? What does faithfulness look like in exile?
This fits perfectly into our sermon series on Scripture. We are using Scripture to ground our lives in learning how to act in this cultural moment. We need to. We need to be grounded in the Scriptures because the alternatives are not all they are made out to be. Let’s explore this idea and hear how God moved up at camp.
If you received a text with each thought that passed through your mind today, what would you see? Would you say that your mind is a place the Lord rules or does it feel like a free-for-all up there? The last few months I’ve been inviting the Lord to do some housekeeping and it’s kind of changing my life. The truth is, if I keep what’s in my heart and mind to myself and don’t trust the Lord with it, I’m missing out on all there is to be gained from trusting God’s way. I can’t wait to share what I’m learning with you!
The end of this movie, Jesus Christ SUPERSTAR, 1973 VERSION, which was first a play back in the middle of hippy world, is how the disciples felt in Luke 24:13-35. Jesus died and he wasn’t coming back. The show’s over. They were all getting back on the bus. But there, Jesus was in their midst. And here’s the point. They lost their entire perspective until Jesus explained the Bible to them. Then their eyes opened and they saw Jesus, resurrected and this brought new perspective. If you don’t explore God’s word as a Christian, you’ll lose your perspective as well. And perspective brings purpose. The whole point is Jesus informs us all that we have to get into the Bible to gain perspective for life.
Psalm 19 crescendos with a surprising statement--the poet declares Scripture to be more valuable than gold and sweeter than honey. Now, those of us who are Christians know and believe that Scripture is important, but it’s something else entirely to say that it’s more desirable than gold and sweeter than honey. If we’re being honest, many of us think of and experience Scripture more like a child thinks of and experiences eating their vegetables. We might believe that the Scripture is essential, or at least useful, but that’s a far cry from saying that it’s beautiful. So what would it actually mean to delight in Scripture? How would we even begin? Join us as we begin our July teaching series on rhythms of Scripture with a teaching from Psalm 19:7-11 on Scripture, the Beautiful (True) Story.
I am intrigued and fascinated by stories of wagon trains crossing the country and the Rockies, in order to get to California to find a new home. Some stopped in Nevada, and that’s their bad. Their journey usually took months or longer, and included babies born and family members dying. Contrast that with the ease of jumping on a plane and in a few hours flying to New York City, with nothing but a credit card, or Apple Pay, in your pocket. But something more intriguing is at work: I’m calling it Missional Praying, and our divided world may have blinded our sight to its spiritual power. Without the ardor of a wagon train, or even airline travel, we can impact a desperate situation and people-group, in any country in our world, while washing the dishes, or walking our dog. I’m hoping our talk about Colossians 4:2-6 will expand our vision and transform our lives as we pray “your kingdom come, on earth, just as it is in heaven,” right now.
There is something about music that captures us. We all can think of that one song that brings us back to a favorite childhood memory, or the song that got us through a break up, or perhaps "Leaning on the Lord's Side" is on repeat in your house all day long. Music plays a central role in our lives, and I think it should. Music has a powerful way to help form us into the people we want to be, or shape us into people we don't want to be. This is what we will explore this week as we continue our series on prayer. How does the music of God's people shape us?
The disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray. He gave them what we now call, The Lord’s Prayer, but then invited them to pray to their Heavenly Father with “shameless audacity” [Luke 11:8 NIV]. That phrase has ignited my imagination, but also challenged my practice of praying… feeble, inconsistent, unworthy, and on it goes. By the way, there is almost no one I talk with who feels like their “prayer life” is the best it could or should be. Praying with shameless audacity—probably isn’t cocky, selfish, or mean-spirited—but free-spirited, generous, risky, bold, humble. Let’s grapple with the stories Jesus tells in Luke 11:1-13 and then put this kind of prayer into practice.
How would you start a teaching on prayer? Don't worry--I have a plan for how to start off the teaching. But, where would you start? In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus doesn't begin his teaching on prayer with a definition of prayer, a guide for how to pray, or instructions for what a praying life should look like. Instead, Jesus begins his teaching on prayer by teaching us how to relate to God. So how does Jesus invite us to relate to God? And how does that actually come to shape our lives? Join us as we begin a four week mini-series on the practice of prayer with a teaching from Matthew 6:5-9 on The Basis of Our Prayer: Praying to Our Father.
We begin a four month journey studying and experimenting together, four primary new spiritual practices the help us be more successful in achieving our goals as Christians - practices that shape us. We all want to mature in Christ, but how? By doing something regularly over a long period of time until it becomes who you are. That’s a spiritual practice, or spiritual discipline. James Clear says in Atomic Habits, "a 1% alteration done over a long period of time has a lasting impact on your life, for good or for worse." What are you doing regularly that is helping you achieve your spiritual goals?This week is from Colossians 3:1-17 - learning to practice the faith. Then next week, we’ll start practicing. We’ll start with prayer. But let’s first get a basic understanding of our goal and the system we choose for achieving our goal.
Last week, James and Brae brought us an exposition of Psalm 23, God is our shepherd. God is inviting us to sit quietly with him as He fills us up. The future of you is that of growing majestically like a tree in the forest or in a meadow. They gave us ways to connect personally with God.This week, I want to look at not you, but us, the church. We are not one, but many. We are not a single tree in a forest but a grove of trees. As aspen trees grow strong by sharing their roots, redwoods interlock their roots forming a bond that cannot easily be broken. That degree in natural resources, namely dendrology, came in handy, finally, didn’t it? If you have ever read the Overstory, it is a story of nine people and their love and respect for trees. They work together, unsuccessfully and in culturally unacceptable ways, to end deforestation. The book also describes how trees cooperate and communicate to stay alive, which parallels the nine people that join roots to try and save the trees. The intermingling of lives makes them stronger. The church is a grove of trees like that. Magnificent, beautiful, and strong, but vulnerable. In Deuteronomy 4, God has two (not three), two suggestions for the people of God to stand strong for him against the current deforestation, rising tall and prominent in the world today. God has called us, the church to resist extinction, and continue the beauty of creation in the world.
Let’s talk about the future. Your future. Are you thinking through a transition in life, work, health, finances, family, ministry? This can be as small as making summer plans or changing up your fitness routine or as massive as a huge career change or entering into a new stage of life and family. How do you walk boldly and beautifully into that sometimes-scary thing we call the future? How do you gracefully navigate the fears and headwinds that push against a future of growth and flourishing? We won’t have all the answers or solve all the problems, but let’s huddle around an amazing, classic passage of scripture (Psalm 23) and brainstorm together about transitioning into tomorrow.
It’s Mother’s Day and we are going to land our series exploring “transformation” by soaking in the first Psalm that my mom taught me when I was a little kid.I also want to ask a question: What do you think truly good moms want from their kids? Let’s ask a few and find out. It just might be the case that pondering this question will teach us something about the mother heart of God! This will also feed into our transformation series, I promise!
How do we really change the shape and formation of our lives for good? I’ve been pushed often to just try harder, or pray or read my Bible more. I’ve tried “white-knuckling” it, trying to exert more will-power to stop doing the stuff I know doesn’t please God. I’ve also fallen into the temptation to make and follow more rules, to build a religious-boundary hiding my broken insides. I’ve been a Christian for more than five decades and to be honest, none of these have ever worked to bring my character and behavior into alignment with the heart of Jesus. More and more, I am beginning to discover there is a different way, and it starts with changing my inside, rather than my outside. It includes asking, and letting Jesus answer the questions of “what is the good life?” and “who is the good person?”
It's not difficult to think of ways that community can be an important ingredient for transformation into maturity--encouragement, accountability, support, etc. But what if the role of church community in transformation is more spiritually powerful and personal than simply providing some necessary encouragement and accountability for growth? What if obeying Jesus' command to love one another is actually the mysterious means by which we encounter the transforming love of God personally? Join us as we continue our Transformation series with a teaching from John 15:9-17 on the 'Mysterious Power of Belonging.'
We are in a new series, The Big T... Transformation. Change for the better or as Bill MacPhee said the other day, change for good! I like that. How to change for good. Well, this week is step one - what you believe will change you. We are what we believe. John 1:1-17 - believe that God sent Jesus and your world changes with it.
We are starting a new series called Transformation - How to Change for the Better. This is the year of growing deeper in our faith. If we want more out of our walk with Jesus, we’ve got to make some changes. There are things you are doing right now that maybe you need stop doing. There are things you are not doing that might be a good idea to start doing. And that goes for your thinking as well. So how does a person change? There was a viking ship captain who announced he had good news and bad news. "The good news, men, is that we all get to change our underwear today. The men cheered. The bad news is, Joe, you change with Charlie, Bob, you change with Pete..." Fine, you didn’t like my joke. That’s hardly any real change, right? Real change, biblically speaking, is about a life transformation, from the inside out so that what you evidence is a changed person in me. We celebrate when someone has completed the steps, or has successfully committed to a new work out regiment, or become more self aware. Ok, so let’s begin this week by looking at Romans 12:1-2 that says the basis of all change is renewal.
Let's celebrate not just an incredible moment in human history, but let's celebrate the reality that God has not only entered into our suffering, but in the resurrection, worked out a majestic solution to the human predicament. We will open the windows and doors of our lives to hope!
Cat Stevens wrote the song, Wild World ages ago."Oh baby baby it's a wild worldIt's hard to get by just upon a smile…"A smile is not enough but it sure helps after a break up, news of a layoff, 3rd quarter disappointing results, feeling rejected or misunderstood, or being persecuted for being a Christ follower. But is it enough? Distressed, tested by fire, an inexpressible joy. How do those go together? The mystery hangs on a confidence we have that resurrection is like a snow plow that forges a path ahead. What is impassable becomes a way forward. Where we might have been trapped in grief or great sadness or disappointment now becomes an image of Jesus, our inexpressible joy. Those 6 families that lost loved ones in Nashville are beyond our ability to comfort. But there must be an answer. There just has to be. A hope. A living hope. I bank my life on it. I Peter 1:1-9 leads the way forward for us.
I have discovered that people will anchor their lives to something temporal or what is eternal. It is revealed most clearly through suffering. A bad situation won’t keep a good man or woman down. But have you ever asked yourself why that is? I Peter 1:1-9 reveals the answer. It’s living a Christ-centered life by fixing your hope to the eternal reality of the resurrection. Let me challenge your thinking. What is unchangeable, untouchable, and can’t be taken from you no matter what happens? If you can answer that, you will have as Peter says, true joy through a living hope.
Our new series is entitled “Why Jesus is the center of becoming a mature follower of Christ.” Not the catchiest title we've ever come up with, but don't let the title take away from how important this series really is! Jesus and the resurrection are at the center of everything for us as believers.Last week Bill did such a beautiful job of bringing home the Truth that for those of us in Christ, life does not end here. Because of the resurrection, we have eternity with Christ and we live filled with hope in this life because of what is to come! I want to explore why the resurrection matters as we continue to talk about what we are invited into now.Jesus has a picture in mind of what it looks like to live out resurrection life with Him and it includes the words REST, EASY, and LIGHT. How could that be possible? Life is hard. Let's figure it out together.
As we journey closer to Easter, our next four Sunday gatherings will focus on how Jesus' cross and especially his resurrection are not only the center of all history, but the indispensable cornerstone to life that is hopeful, non-anxious, confident, loving, and purposeful. A disciple or follower of Jesus who is on the path toward maturity keeps growing in a life that is shaped by Jesus' cross, and also his resurrection.I've been diving deep into Ephesians 1:15-23 and wrestling with this phrase: "That power [the incomparably great power for us who believe] is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead." Here is the central question I am asking for Sunday: what are the implications for you and me that God has somehow granted us the exact same power he used to raise Jesus? How does or can this power help us grow in maturity, be a force for good in the world, deal with diversity and discord, calm anxieties, and form our identities as God designed?
I am speaking on a very controversial topic this weekend from the life of Elijah: depression. Did Elijah fall into depression? Was it severe? How do we know? Lots of questions. One of the problems is we are trying to diagnose a 9th century BC patient with 21st century medical knowledge. All we really know is Elijah got kicked in the butt. He went down hard. Jezebel wanted him dead after slaying her Baal influencers and turning the people back around to the worship of Yahweh. Elijah asked the Lord to take his life. He wasn’t willing to live any longer. He was hopeless. Depression can be identified as a mental illness. It’s a disease. You can’t just convince someone to not be depressed. It must be unravelled carefully through a layered multi dimensional process. Anxiety, worry, and depression are becoming more and more common in young people as we try to bounce back from a debilitating shutdown that left many people worried and depressed. It’s an epidemic the Christian church does not want to talk about. Thank God Elijah was honest with us. He showed what happened, what it was like and how he recovered. There is hope. Join me.
If you’ve ever been in a conflict or conversation about a tense issue (which, duh, you have—welcome to planet earth), then you’re well aware of how frustrating and unhelpful it can be when someone responds with defensiveness and blame shifting. And if we’re all honest, we’ve each done our fair share of defensive and blame shifting responses ourselves. But beyond being frustrating and unhelpful, defensiveness is a symptom of something much more insidious: pride. Yet the story of Scripture as a whole, and our particular scripture for this teaching from 1 Kings 18:17-18, emphasizes over and over again that the sweet spot of life is humble receptivity toward God. Join us for a teaching from the life of Elijah and his foil King Ahab as we learn about the freedom of humble receptivity, the danger of prideful self-reliance, and how the good news of King Jesus is the key to freedom from the trap of pride.
Did you ever go to a Billy Graham crusade and hear George Beverly Shea sing Victory in Jesus? OK, maybe that was before your time. But the moment was electrifying as thousands and thousands of people gathered.The Billy Graham crusades highlighted victory in Jesus. Billy Graham would get up and talk about the cultural problems we face, idols, and then launch into a gospel message. Jesus is always the answer on top of Mount Caramel. Elijah pronounces victory over a society that has gone astray, the sacrifices split from fire, coming from heaven, which ultimately was a precursor to the greatest sacrifice of all. Mount Caramel will forever be remembered as the mountain of victory. Many years later, and even greater, victory will come on Mount Calvary.
Ready set wait. A runner hears the gun and does not lift her head to her ascent. She remains in a four point sprint start waiting position. Her head bowed. Her feet firm ready to bounce. She’s in a race but does not move. It’s so counterintuitive we can hardly imagine the scene. A runner that doesn’t run? What is she waiting for? Unless she is running a different race. From a biblical perspective, waiting can be described as that space between our wounds and our healing, says Sue Monk Kidd in When the Heart Waits, our questions and our answers, our departure and our arrival, she continues. It’s the space between what is and what we hope to be. She visited a church once and the pastor called people with heartaches and problems to come forward. “God will take care of them right now”, he said. No waiting necessary. And we wonder why so few dive into to the deepest caverns of themselves to see what’s there and what is not there. The space between our real time experiences and our desired outcomes is the place God works best.Elijah was held in a waiting stance for over three years. He was a far cry from a mountain top victory, but that did not preclude God from doing his best work in and through Elijah. With little comes much. It’s all in the stance.
I have heard this phrase thrown around for years, “We are to serve the Lord.” What in the heck does that mean? Psalm 100 says to do it with gladness. Joshua said, "As for he and his house, they will serve the Lord." OK. But what does that mean? Elijah is called to serve the Lord in I Kings 17-19 by confronting a wayward king and an idolatrous nation. You also see him serving Obadiah, and the widow with words of encouragement. You may serve the Lord as a full time ministry worker or as a business person or a parent. Question: Is there a common thread that runs through all our shared experiences of serving the Lord? Possibly. In I Kings 17:1 and in I Kings 18:1, Elijah is to go to the King and tell him what God is up to. Maybe that’s the idea of serving the Lord. It’s going to others and sharing what God is up to in order to bring about a renewed heart of passion for the Lord, a revival of spirit. Sometimes people need a pat on the back, other times we need a kick in the pants. My belief is we need both at times. God uses those he has commissioned to serve Him (all of us) to help others in their spiritual pursuit of the Lord. Elijah served the Lord.
Here are a couple big, fat biblical-theological ideas of which I am convinced: 1) God is an expert teacher and 2) the Bible is repetitive. If you spend any time listening to the tales and teachings of scripture, you quickly discover that a handful of very basic themes reappear again and again. I do not think this repetition is a failure of literary beauty; I think it is a mark of pedagogical brilliance. If you are human like I am human, then like me, the most basic and essential truths that shape my perspective and life are those very truths I tend to forget or doubt.We are going to encounter an Elijah story wherein God teaches Elijah one of these fundamental truths: I am the provider and in me there is enough. I’ve entitled the sermon: “Favor in Famine.” Join us and let’s be reminded and refreshed together!
The reluctant prophet. That is the story of most of the prophets, except eager Isaiah who said, “Here I am, Lord, Send me!” I hate to say it, but I kinda think he’s a bit too happy for me. Jonah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Elijah, I can relate to these guys. Jonah got spit up on the shore of Nineveh. He tried running. Jeremiah needed convincing. Before you were born, I appointed you. How dramatic. Elijah, he was tending his olive orchard and God told him to go to the King of Israel and announce the drought. Ugh. He was halfway through his life when God interrupted his daily routine. Well, I am so sorry!Don’t think God doesn’t see you hiding from behind that desk, your important duties as a parent, or in school as a student. Move on, nothing to see here. Elijah got called up. It was go time. Each of us will find that to press further into a vibrant faith in Jesus, we will be called out for more. Whether we step up or not is in our court.
Elijah is the story of every one of us, if we desire more. Do you want more?Contentment is often the product of choosing compromise over commitment. But it’s momentary. You can be content for awhile, but you will yearn for more. Holding on to what you have does not lead to lasting contentment. Elijah challenges us to seek more in our lives. But it comes at a cost. All good things do. Do you want more?Join me for the next several weeks as we explore the life of Elijah from I Kings 17-19 and glean from his life several life transforming lessons and principles that will lead to more of God, more faith, more trust, more depth.This week we will look at a scene halfway through the drama. Elijah meets a widow on the brink of starvation who gives up what she cannot afford to lose to gain what she could not live without. Because she chose generosity over scarcity, her life was blessed beyond measure. It’s a great place to start because we see God show up more when we have the least.
Watch our River Kids as they share with us the Christmas Story with us. Then, I'll put forth my best effort to follow their dazzle with a message about a handful of shepherds who leave the nighttime darkness of their fields to find the light emanating from the manger bed of Jesus. They heard the good news from an angel, they took the initiative, they got up, and they went to see. At this stage of the Advent season, you may be plowing ahead full steam; or you also could be weighed down with all the expectations that come with this time of the year. Those few nameless [at least to us] shepherds can lead us into a fresh moment of delight and wonder as we anticipate Christmas anew. Read the story again, in Luke 2:1-20.
Jesus came into a world of darkness to save us from our darkness. Think about that. The world is a dark place. But so also are our hearts. That is why Jesus himself was born into such a broken and vulnerable set of circumstances to a poor family. He became human to absorb our fallen humanness, to heal, not destroy. We deserve death. We get life because in his humanness, he sacrificed himself on our behalf. But, that also means he has to be God, for only God can forgive sins. And thus, we have the passage before us, Luke 2:1-14, the human birth and pronouncement of his divinity, Savior who is Christ the Lord. And that is light breaking into darkness.
We live in a world that often feels make believe. The line between fantasy and truth has been blurred. We are told one thing, but we know it's not true. We refuse to believe what we know is true because it's inconvenient. We cover up some, bury others, and believe what is most convenient whether it’s true or not. Yet, in the midst of this fantastical haze we live in, the Christmas story breaks through and a light shines. You cannot deny it because you can see that light everywhere. It shines in darkness. Jesus was born into the Roman Empire in the year 3 BC. Whatever you believe about Jesus, you cannot deny the reality of His life, any more than Caesar Augustus or Genghis Khan. What you do with Jesus is another story. If I were to write the story of Jesus, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Messiah, Savior of the world, it wouldn’t be the way the gospel writers told his biography. With nothing but the truth to tell, they told it like it is. It has the makings of a rags to riches story.
Whether you are snuggling up to the season or sketching out a survival strategy, join us for some connection, worship, and a simple sermon in that space between Thanksgiving and Christmas. We’re going to re-experience an often-overlooked slice of the Christmas story and learn something about the beauty of living in response. In the meantime, may God smile richly on your celebrations!
At the heart of life with Jesus is a paradox. On the one hand life with Jesus is, to reference the late pastor-theologian Eugene Peterson, “a long obedience in the same direction.” On the other hand, Scripture shows us that one of the greatest threats to our individual joy in God and the forward advance of God’s mission is settling for business as usual. So what does it look like to live with settled patience on the one hand and disruptive faith on the other? Join us as we look at Acts 4:23-31 to learn together to live with Holy Dependence.
Ask any young person entering the workforce what they hope for in their career and you'll hear (among other things) a consistent theme: purpose. Ours is a cultural moment especially shaped by a fundamental desire of the human heart--we want not only a desirable lifestyle, but also a desirable purpose to give our lives to. All of which brings to light the beauty of life with Jesus. Jesus invites us to live for the true purpose for which we were created, the cause of partnering with him in his redemptive mission in the world. But what does that actually mean? And how would we even begin to live it out in the day to day trenches of adult life? Join us as we continue in our teaching series in the book of Acts by looking at Acts 17:16-34 as we learn about A New Cause to Live For.
This week I want to tell you two stories and intertwine them together. The first is of a boy named Eustace Clarence Scrubb. The author of this story, CS Lewis, said Eustace was so annoying he almost deserved his name, and it's a bad name. I want to tell you how this annoying boy became a dragon, and then how he turned back into a boy. It's a beautiful story!
The second story is of the young church at Ephesus. Also a beautiful story, but a bit different. I want to share with you how they changed from magicians to worshipers. The central point in both stories is the work of God through the Holy Spirit changing the deep things of their lives. Let's learn and be entertained together.
America is divided today. Is that a fair statement [or understatement]? Increasingly, our churches are also becoming split up into tribes. More than half of American Evangelicals would prefer attending churches of politically like-minded people. Consider the implications of that posture—it certainly is not all bad, but may not be that good either. Do not worry… the sermon will definitely not be about politics. I am not qualified for that. I am qualified to guide us into Acts 10 and let it point us to see the trajectory of a major theme for the writer Luke: a continual, if not uneven, movement of concentric circles expanding out from Jerusalem, embracing more people, in more diverse places, with the good news that Jesus is Lord, and that salvation and forgiveness of sins are available through him. My hope and prayer is that our beautiful River Church will be caught up in this ongoing Jesus-story, finding our ultimate allegiance and identity in him, for the good of the world.
I love how the Spirit moves in Acts! It is so cool to see and I deeply want that same movement in my own life! While there is no quick fix solution to this, one aspect of the early Christian community is that its Spiritual fire was kindled by the prayers of its people. Meaning, they were people of prayer! Through the book of Acts, there is a complementary nature to the Spirit's moving and people praying. God, in his freedom and love, has chosen to move through people who are close to himself, people of prayer. I am struck by this, and want to listen to the book of Acts to help change, encourage, and deepen my own prayer life.
David Crump notes, "The well rounded collection of diverse minds, emotions, concerns, interests, passions, and insights assembled by an entire community at prayer creates an open tinderbox receptive to whatever sparks are struck by the collision between devout petition and divine intent. There is no better place to pray than with the assembled body of Christ."
Who exactly runs this church? Who is really in charge? Who is the grand visionary, strategic thinker, master motivator, and deal closer? If the scriptural narrative of Acts gets a voice (which it certainly will in this series), its answer is unanimous: The Holy Spirit of God. Let’s open Acts again and gain both a birds-eye-view and a fly-on-the-wall perspective of the Spirit’s leadership style. Spoiler: we are going to discover the inescapable truth painted on almost every page of the Bible: God does his best work in disruption. What if rather than always struggling against the Spirit’s nonconformist style, we began to embrace it? What if individually and together we became a church headed for God knows where to do God knows what?
The South Bay is starving for something real. Something that looks more like the Jesus who captivated our hearts and imaginations. Something that looks less like an organization drooling after money, blind loyalty, or behavior modification. In this adventure, we will embark on a guided tour through the picturesque narrative landscape of Acts, before refreshing in the relational day spa that is Acts 2 and 4. Along the way we will behold an often-overlooked and beautifully non-glamorous divine innovation: the miracle of the local church. Together we will seek to learn from our ancient ancestors in the faith how we might authentically and sustainably live and share good news in and through community. The South Bay is starving for something real. What if folks found that in our little church?
Does it seem like the world around us is changing faster than our minds can process? World events, cultural shifts, tragedy and evil attacks here and across the seas, familiar norms upended, disunity and disparagement, all this may bring confusion, anxiety, and even a feeling of being unmoored from anything solid and reliable. Our teaching team and staff at The River believe strongly that the Holy Spirit has led us to journey through the book of Acts for a timely and hopeful purpose in this season of our collective life. This weekend, we come to Peter’s explanation of what was happening in the wild, unsettling, epoch-changing arrival of the Holy Spirit to create a small but growing family of Jesus-followers. This first sermon [read Acts 2:14-41] ever heard by a church declares an immovable bedrock of Good News, and no matter the chaos of disruption, it gives us stability and confidence, hope and even joy, to live a life of purpose in alignment with the goodness and intention of our great God!
Happy Birthday to THE CHURCH!
Not the River Church - we celebrate that in February… but the first Christian church, EVER! I want to CELEBRATE together as we look at Acts 2 and the day we refer to as Pentecost. What happens on Pentecost? The Holy Spirit comes! And why is it referred to as the birthday of the church? Not just because we all receive a gift. But because, as the church, we are continuing the work of Jesus… and the only way we can continue His work is because of the Holy Spirit in us… and we have the Holy Spirit! THAT is something to celebrate.
It’s no exaggeration to say that we are living through one of the periods of greatest change in living memory. Smart phones, a global pandemic, remote work, and a slue of hot-button issues are ushering in massive cultural shifts in ways both good and bad. And all this on top of the normal stuff of day-to-day life. The question for followers of Jesus (and those interested in exploring life with Jesus) is this: What might God have for us in our cultural moment? What might God want to do in us individually? What might He be calling His people to collectively? Join us as we start our Fall series in the book of Acts, starting with Acts 1:1-11, to spark our imagination for what God might want to do in and through us during our cultural moment here in the South Bay.
Stay hydrated; get your heart rate up 3-5 times each week; eat more vegetables. You don’t really need your coach, or mom, or doctor to teach you about this. You know the drill, you have heard it for a long time, now just do this more and more. There are basics in life that are so fundamental, vital for our own health and for the good of the world around us. Once in a while I come to my senses and realize that I have veered off course from the basics, for a week or two, or a month. Then I need a gentle reminder to get back at it, without remorse or self-recrimination. I am going to give us, The River Church, a reminder. It’s found in 1 Thessalonians 4:9-10. When you read it, you’ll find more affirmation than critique.
We end our series on the Parables of Jesus with the most difficult of all. It’s in Luke 16:1-15. There’s this unscrupulous, irresponsible steward who makes bad investments on behalf of his master. And upon being fired, he quickly scrambles, acts shrewdly and settles the debts, recovering half of what was lost for his master. His master praises his actions and Jesus tells us to be like this steward. It can only mean one thing - be shrewd with the resources God has given you to manage. No matter your past, no matter how you have spent your time and money, the resources God has given you, you can always turn that around and do something good with what you have. In this parable, debtors that owed more than what they could pay back ended up walking away with their debts paid off. The master is happy. The steward has secured a place in the next life. What does this all mean for us?
As I head into a three month sabbatical Sept-Nov, 2022), this will be my last message until December. Just so you know. It’s been eight years since our first sabbatical. This will be my second and final sabbatical as a pastor. Though we will be around, we are taking some time to prepare for finishing well when we return. I’ll miss you all. Don’t be surprised if I show up to soak in the relational goodness of all of you at the River, enter into worship, and hear the word spoken. I just won’t be up front. We have a very capable team that will launch us into an new series from the book of Acts that will take us on a Holy Spirit guided journey through the early years of the church asking the question, what does the Holy Spirit have for the River looking into its future? More is coming. Much more. We as a church staff spent two days praying and planning and hearing from the Holy Spirit. We kept hearing more, deeper, Jesus encounters. We are expecting this next season to be a season of spiritual revival in our church. We believe it’s coming.
In a culture that is driven by a victim mentality, our identities often become wrapped up in the wrongs we have endured. So busy nursing our wounds, we become blind to ways that we wound. It’s the longing to place ourselves on the right side of our individual histories.
It is the primordial word from the garden,
‘The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.’ Genesis 3:12
The problem with deflection and why it is an affront to the very foundation of the gospel is because it is a refusal of grace toward others while abusing it in ourselves. Josh White
I love so much about Jesus. Ask him about your favorite hot-button issue, he tells you a story. Seek his take on someone else, he answers with a mirror. Look for a loophole, encounter impermeable love. Let’s sit at Jesus’s feet and listen with our ears and hearts as he replies to one of the most popular questions of our age with a worldview-reframing parable.
"Reality is our friend." It's almost comical how frequently a former boss and mentor of mine would say those words. What he meant was this: there are few things more helpful when making a plan for the future, few things more instructive in knowing what to do today, than having an accurate picture of our true situation. When it comes to navigating our lives, then, there's an obvious question: What is the situation we live in? And what does that mean for how we should live today? We continue our teaching series in the parable of Jesus, Stories From Another World, with a teaching from Luke 19:10-27 and an exploration into Jesus' teaching about the true story we find ourselves in and what we should prioritize in response. Taylor
"Reality is our friend." It's almost comical how frequently a former boss and mentor of mine would say those words. What he meant was this: there are few things more helpful when making a plan for the future, few things more instructive in knowing what to do today, than having an accurate picture of our true situation. When it comes to navigating our lives, then, there's an obvious question: What is the situation we live in? And what does that mean for how we should live today? Let's continue our teaching series in the parable of Jesus, Stories From Another World, with a teaching from Luke 19:10-27 and an exploration into Jesus' teaching about the true story we find ourselves in and what we should prioritize in response.
The Christian faith is the largest faith in the world right now. According to Wikipedia, which never lies, there were 2.382 billion people who adhere to the Christian faith in 2020. That is around 1/3 of the worlds population. Incredible! Have you ever wondered how this came to be? How did the Kingdom grow in numbers? How did it go from a small group of disciples to the largest faith in the world? And the question with it... how should it grow?
Answer: Through loads of summer camps like Hume! just kidding.. although they do have their place! And we will talk about that this week too :)
Real answer: let’s look to Jesus. We will take a look at two parables of Jesus talking about the growth of the kingdom of God. We will learn how the kingdom ordinarily grows and advances - in the small acts of grace lived out through Spirit empowered people.
We live in a noisy world. For instance, every day we generate 294 billion emails, we upload 720,000 hours of new YouTube content, and we watch more than 1 billion TikTok videos. That’s a lot of content to wade through.
Jesus is speaking, he is the Word made flesh, but in an increasingly crowded world, we may not hear him; we might not even be listening.
We are forced to decide, to discern, and to pay attention to a fraction of what comes our way. Jesus tells the parable of the sower and four types of dirt in Mark 4:1-20, and it will be the springboard to help on our way to “consider carefully what you hear.” [Mark 4:24] As followers of Jesus’ words and ways, there are tangible practices he modeled that can help us hear him with life-transforming clarity.
I am in my third trimester of pregnancy with our third baby. August is almost four and Clara is almost two. There is a lot going on at our house. The range of thoughts and emotions I have around my children in a day is the FULL spectrum. Amusement over silly things they pick up and repeat(August thanked God for Potiphar last night as I was putting him to sleep - LOL!), exasperation as they throw fits while I'm trying to get them buckled in their carseats and out the door on time, amazement when they look out for each other without my prompting, awe as they sleep peacefully, worry when they fall or get injured, pride when they learn. This week we come across a parable in which Jesus says it's children who will inherit the kingdom of heaven. Children. With their dirty little hands and silly little tantrums. What do we have to learn from children and how can we become more like children in order to draw nearer to the heart of Jesus?
Summer, and especially our 4th of July vacation weekend, give relief from the all too common competitive and dog-eat-dog work world. We once again experience the fresh wind of freedom that marks our beautiful country. This is part of the beauty of Sabbath rest—stepping back and checking attitudes and actions. Competition often leads to comparison ending badly in jealousy, ranking, and hurtful envy, ironically fouling our freedom.
Jesus wants to form us as extravagantly generous as he. Jealousy, comparison, and ranking make us small and stingy. Generosity expands our gratefulness, friendship, and joy. There is a Jesus-parable about early and late workers in his vineyard [Matthew 20:1-16], and it has the potential to teach us about God’s surprising value of grace, where our work never earns his pay. Join me as we enjoy the welcome of the landowner into his vineyard.
When was the last time you were absolutely captivated by something or someone? So enchanted that you could do nothing but remain in the glow of the moment? The older I get (I’m 40 now; Barb Bonesteele encourages me to regularly remind y’all), the easier it is to lose the luster of life. So many elements of reality that once enthralled have, with years of exposure, been demoted to “Meh.” Imagination-sparking, emotion-evoking truths are increasingly cut with the bland waters of familiarity. Let’s read a delicious parable and allow Jesus to re-introduce us to long-lost wonder!
By the 4th century, many historians, Rodney Stark, Roger Bagnall, and Shiley Jackson Case and others have argued that the spread of Christianity was nothing short of miraculous. By the early part of the 4th century, some estimate that over half of the Roman Empire had converted. They were actually running out of people to convert! Seriously? And yet today, we seem to be in a decline. A century ago, a pastor held a high position in society. Today, they are often labeled as fanatics, prone to disgraceful activities among the congregation, and full of pride and arrogance. Many fall from grace, but most seem to find their role diminished and relevant to a remaining, post Covid, 40-50% smaller congregation. Believers feel their faith is impotent to change culture or to bring about sustainable change in culture. Christians feel often sidelined and irrelevant to influencing world and cultural issues. And then there’s the parable of the Wheat and the Weeds found in Matthew 13:24-30. Jesus says the wheat will stand strong, grow grain and reap a harvest. Be patient. Even among the weeds that vie for its food supply and very survival. I often want to throw up my hands in complete disappointment in response to the state of the church in America. Then I read this parable and I think, shut up. Stop this nonsense thinking and be the wheat planted. The world needs a harvest and it survives. Quit complaining. And for those that have given up on the church, got too busy, distracted, apathetic, get back in the game or one day you will look back and miss out on the reward of the harvest. You will look back and and see that your lives did get drowned out by the weeds because you didn’t stay in the field with the other wheat.
Our River Sunday worship gatherings are jumping into a new summer series we are calling, “Stories from Another World: the parables of Jesus.” A parable of Jesus is a story about life in the kingdom and what the king is like. Jesus told them on purpose to comfort, to describe, and to provoke. I like what Malcolm Muggeridge said, “All happenings, great and small, are parables whereby God speaks. The art of life is to get the message.” God is speaking, right now, into your life, and into our collective community we call The River Church. I am going to walk us through what we call the Parable of the Prodigal Son [though I’m going to give it another title I think is more helpful] in Luke 15. I see three themes: compassion, confession, and celebration, so join me as we discover whether Jesus, through this parable, might give shape to us individually and as a community, for the good of the world.
We are winding up a study from the 3 middle chapters in Romans, 6-8, all about how to live our new life in Christ. Just because we have been resurrected to new life does not mean we actually enjoy the fruit of it. Romans 6:1 begins, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?" The rest of chapters 6-8 is about how to live free from enslavement to our unbridled passions that run roughshod over our lives. What seems like “a free and easy down the road I go” turns out to be a country song nightmare - the wheels come off the truck, your wife leaves, dog dies, and you run out of beer! Free and easy isn’t the answer to the big question we ask ourselves - What will truly satisfy? The answer... the Holy Spirit. In Romans 8:12-25 we discover that the Holy Spirit gives us a new identity as adopted children of God, heirs of the kingdom to come. One always lives out of their identity.
In a world filled with "shoulds," how can we actually live free of shame? Our typical approaches to our problem with shame usually involve either trying harder to keep the rules or trying to care less about expectations, but neither really address the problem at its root. Join us as we learn from Romans 8:1-11, about how finding ourselves in what God has done for us in Jesus not only brings the secure identity we need to be free from shame, but power by the Spirit to grow to be the kind of people we were always meant to be.
It’s time to demolish those rusty, crusty, heavy, ugly, weighted shackles that you’ve been dragging—and dragged by—for far too long. Let’s let God shred the labels, lies, and overturned laws that we’ve been told and tell ourselves! As Paul of Tarsus eloquently puts it: Let’s re-entrust ourselves to “the God who delivers us through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 7:25).
Romans 7 reveals the famous internal dialogue Paul has in his mind about failing to keep the law. I do what I don’t want to do. I actually hate what I do since it is contrary to what I know I want to do. If that does not describe the most common area of disappointment for most Christ followers. I do what I don’t want to do. It sounds like something within him is working against his true desires as a Christ follower. Why do I do the opposite of what I want to do? I do want to please God. I do want to be loving. My kids asked if I could come over and help hang drapes in their new house. OK, I want to do that, but I want to sit and gel in front of the TV and have me time. Let’s get more vulnerable. I want to give the credit to others but I desperately need to be valued and praised. I want to yield the right of way but I have to be somewhere. You get the idea. What is causing this and what is the solution is the focus of Romans 7.
We had the pleasure of hearing from Josh White, Pastor of Door of Hope Church in the heart of Portland Oregon... what a treat!
He’s going be famous really soon (and it won’t go to his head as is way too common). Seriously. He’s twice as smart as me, and that is a compliment to him. He’s relevant, edgy, compassionate and just plain brilliant. He’s writing a book, Stumbling Toward Eternity and will talk about this book and about re-centering our lives on the cross in the midst of the cultural wars that are breaking out all around us. Threatening SCOTUS members at their place of residence? Rioting pregnancy centers that are trying to help others? Jan 6, school board show downs, things people say to one another on social media, politics undermining people’s character with falsities to win votes… it’s an all out war out there.
What is the Christian to do? Now, these are my words, Todd, not Josh’s. Let’s let him speak and inform us from his perspective. He’s lived in the real world, endured some pretty crazy hardships in life, invited the heart of Portland into his church, and through it all, speaks a language that people understand and want to hear. He’s the only guy I know who can quote Nietzsche and Jesus in the same sentence. I have not met a guy like him, ever. He’s going to be a voice for our current generation and will train and raise up the next generation of leaders. Mark my words.
We are back in Romans chapter 6 again. Last week we looked at the first 14 verses and learned that we have a new nature. We don’t have to give in to desires that are contrary to who we are in Christ. This week we’ll learn that we really don’t want to give in, once we realize the harm it causes. Now properly informed and properly motivated, new life in Christ awaits us.
Bob Dylan once said, “you gotta serve somebody.” Here are a few of the lyrics.
"You may be a preacher with your spiritual pride You may be a city councilman taking bribes on the side, You may be workin' in a barbershop, you may know how to cut hair, You may be somebody's mistress, may be somebody's heir,But you're gonna have to serve somebody, Yes, you're gonna have to serve somebody (serve somebody),Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord ,But you're gonna have to serve somebody (serve somebody)."
Who do you serve? Who’s your master. To be free from one is to be slave to another. It could be the devil, it could be the Lord. Often we are masters of behavior we know darn well is not good for us, which the Bible calls sin. Paul makes a stunning and remarkably bold claim about our internal struggle with sin in our section of Scripture, Romans 6:1-14. We have been set free of the internal tyranny of those morally and biblically unhelpful and downright bad for your health choices we call sin. You know what sin is... right? Anything that makes you feel empty, unsatisfied, selfish, unclean. If we are honest, sin and how it makes us feel is an internal meter that tells you things are not right with your soul. Theologically and biblically, it’s anything within us that violates God’s written and moral word for our lives causing a broken and marred relationship with the God who loves us, and with others. This is week #1 of our new series - New Life in Christ for Everyone, an exposition of Romans 6-8. New life is promised in the Resurrection. Are we living it? You have to start by asking, who’s your master?
Listen in and hear from James on an overview of the book of Romans. We will jump into our new sermon series next week!
Happy Easter! What a fantastic time of the year it is. We get the amazing privilege to gather together and celebrate as a church our wonderful savior, Jesus Christ, risen from the dead. He has defeated death. We have nothing to fear. God’s perfect love, displayed on the cross has come to life so that we do not have to fear anything. But wait, there’s more! I feel like Bob Barker. Wait, with that amazing trip to Hawaii, you get... Newwwww life! Well, that’s worth celebrating. It sure beats a poke in the eye, my dad used to say. I will share a few thoughts about this new life from Paul’s perspective from I Corinthians 15. It’s going to be great.
As we draw near to the cross, we encounter Jesus' quiet. This spring of ultimate wisdom, this unflinching prophetic voice, this citadel of truth, quiet. Given the unimaginable grit and gravity of Messiah’s final act—scorning the shame of the cross, bearing the weight of human sin, struggling to breath—this silence is not a surprise. When Jesus musters the physical and psychological power to speak, consequently, we the audience are on the edge of our seats, inclining our ears, straining to lap up every syllable. Let’s move into the shadow of the cross and listen with all our hearts.
We have been focusing on Holy Week this month as we prepare for Good Friday and Easter. We have called the series, the Passion of Jesus, or his suffering. Jesus experienced a great deal of suffering during his final week on earth. He says it in Luke 22:15, “I earnestly desire to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. The suffering just kept getting worse. Here, we will examine his betrayal. The Pharisees betrayed Jesus. The crowd turned on him. His own disciples would fall away. Judas would hand him over in the greatest act of betrayal ever experienced, for a trial made up of unsubstantiated charges followed by an execution by suffocation on a cross. It’s the week the whole world turned on God. As necessary as his death was, Jesus still experienced deep betrayal. How did he respond and what do we learn from this?
For years, the Lord’s supper was a very deep and spiritual experience for me. I remember sitting quietly contemplating Jesus' death often internally moved wondering what it must have been like for Jesus to be abandoned by his friends, hated by others, yet filled with compassion and love. In years since, I feel I’ve needed to re-vist this holy moment with new vigor, searching for new meaning and significance. Jesus said as often as you do this remember me. As often, remember me. We are to do this regularly. Jesus begins Holy Week, often referred to as the Passion Week with a Passover meal with his disciples declaring himself the main meal. Lamb was traditionally served but at this meal, Jesus will be the unblemished lamb. Jesus is to be remembered but also consumed in some sense. Jesus told his disciples earlier to eat his flesh and drink his blood. This is either a very odd ritual or one of the most deeply significant ones in the Christian faith. In Matthew 26:20-26 we will explore its meaning and significance for new insight into how it prepares us for cross shaped life.
Behind our every decision and our every day is a set of assumptions about why we're living and where we're going, a lens through which we see our lives. All of which begs the question for a follower of Jesus: through what lens does Jesus call me to view my life? As we begin our new teaching series, The Passion Week, we'll begin our exploration of the final days before Jesus' crucifixion by learning together from Matthew 23:37-24:14 about Seeing with a New Lens.
I often think about the gospel as a really amazing gift for people who need and don’t yet have the hope of Jesus. After all, it leads to salvation! But the Gospel is not just about salvation. It saves sinners but it also sanctifies saints. The gospel motivates us in our pursuit of Jesus. It keeps us from being discouraged when we fail. It leads to obedience… and godliness… and transformation… and church members on mission.
We are going to invite the Lord to take us back to the simple truths that first drew us to Jesus. Nothing flashy, probably nothing new. But resetting our hearts and minds and lives with the Gospel could change the direction of our lives.
I want to tell a personal story that goes back to my college days. I was mentored by a man that had a deep faith in Christ. It’s impact on my life changed the course of my life. As I think about I and II Timothy, Paul had the same impact on a young believer named Timothy. It’s the story of the future of the church. For the church to survive the storms of our current modern culture, it needs more Pauls and more Timothys. Be Strong Timothy, fight the good fight of faith as I have done, says Paul. There’s truth in this passage for all of us. Why? Because we all will one day come to the end of this life and either have passed along what we have learned and become to others or watch it all come to an abrupt end.
The program you were running starts to glitch. Things aren’t saving correctly; the pages aren’t loading right; the spinning wheel of death taunts you with its unspoken announcement: “I won’t tell you exactly what, but something is definitely wrong!” Do you continue fiddling with the program? Closing and reopening windows with the hope that things magically resolve on their own? Or do you take the drastic step, placing your fingers on those three buttons—Ctrl+Command+Power or (for the P.C. crowd) Ctrl+Alt+Delete? Sometimes our lives and our lives together as a church need a fresh start. Not slight adjustment or a little tinkering, but a full-blown “back-to-the-beginning” re-start. How does something like that happen for a church? What does it even look like? What might your role be in such a profound refresh? Let’s huddle around a message from Jesus to His church in Revelation 2. In this remarkable passage, our Savior urges His people to drop their fiddling, tinkering, excusing, and adjusting and to passionately press Ctrl+Alt+Delete. What if the River Church could experience a thoroughgoing refresh? A single-minded return to the simplicity of our first love?
“Church When it Breaks Your Heart.” This is what I want us to soberly and honestly consider. Have you ever been hurt in or by the one place that should be a bastion of care and encouragement? Does your history with the network of people we call “the church” include scars, regrets, or disappointments? What do you do when a church breaks your heart? This week, I want to invite us to process this question in an authentic and healthy manner. This is a very uncomfortable conversation to host as a pastor. It would be much easier to push and promote all the “good stuff” of church. But that’s just not honest. The church has problems (not just the River Church, but every church populated with humans). Sometimes even a well-meaning church can really, really hurt. Rather than duct-taping over the pain or simply spraying more Lysol in its direction, let’s talk honestly, lament biblically, and together sit at the feet of the only one who can bring healing and hope.
Humans are beings who worship. It is natural to who we are. We express praise, amazement, gratitude, and awe at things we consider "higher" than ourselves. Superbowl Sunday is a great example of this - we will automatically throw our hands up in amazement and praise when Stafford throws a TD to OBJ. (Let's go Rams!) We worship the superstars of our favorite sports. For me, because I married a Canadian, I prefer hockey to football. I am much more likely to praise Mitch Marner and Austin Matthews rather than Joe Burrow. I know I stand out in this, but it is true. Humans all across America will be worshipping Super Bowl Sunday.
For the Philippian church, what they worshipped changed them. They saw the beauty of Jesus and wanted to express their praise, amazement, gratitude, and awe to him. This new focus on Jesus and the good news that his victory over sin has changed everything. Every facet of their lives has been altered by Jesus. And this is what made this church community unique. The Philippian church gives us a clear picture: The church is not primarily a place where... or programs that... but a people who... are changed by the gospel.
When I was at my deepest, most darkest moment in life, I felt all alone drenched in sadness and despair. One of our children was fighting for their life. Thankfully I wasn’t alone. Members of the church came around me and filled me with hope. Do you have a church like that? If you don’t I pity you. Find one. You can’t do life alone. Life is hard and filled with ups and down, joys and tragedies. It just can’t be done alone. That’s why Jesus gathered his disciples into a body called the church, a family. Too many are estranged from their church family and will face the hardships without the family of faith. Sure you can find friends to go through life with, but the church is irreplaceable. The entire New Testament was written not to individuals or friend groups, but the church. For a reason we are told to encourage one another as the day draws near. We are to gather and worship, support, and pray for one another. I just don’t know how else to say it. It breaks my heart to see so many separated from the very thing Jesus came to establish on this earth. The rock, His church, His people. For many reasons, people have chosen not to join in. And they are missing out. We are missing out. The church is the local believers gathered. It’s a multi faceted, dynamic, heterogeneous group of followers of Jesus. We’ve been focusing on the value and importance of the church these last several weeks in our series, Ecclesia. It’s the greek word for church, which means assembly of believers gathered to worship God and learn how to serve him. We’ve been looking at several New Testament letters to the church asking what this letter has to say to us the church. This week, Ephesians tells us, together we chose a new life in Christ when we lay aside the old self and put on the new self. We all want to change. It’s in our nature to desire newness and improvement. We do this together. We together strive for a new life in Christ. Circling back to my deepest, darkest moment… the church family encouraged me daily to put on the new self, in the likeness of God. In the wake of hardship it made all the difference in the world. I couldn’t have done that without many of you.
If we were to ask everyone in the South Bay to give the top few words that come to mind when they hear the word "church," it's not likely the word "freedom" would be near the top of the list. And yet, Paul wrote his letter to the network of churches in Galatia to call them to a life with God characterized by freedom in Jesus. So what are we to make of the disparity between this biblical vision for the church as a community of freedom on the one hand and the common experiences of the church on the other? Join us as we continue our series, Ecclesia, by looking at the book of Galatians and learn to be a community of true freedom together.
It is always strange to preach a message about the importance of church to a crowd of folks at church! Nevertheless, if you are like me, it's easy to become so familiar with something that I forget its majesty, magic, and meaning. It's like distracted driving on the Esplanade forgetting to even glance over at the breathtaking body of water 30 feet from you. Sometimes you just have to pull over to the side, roll down your window, smell the salt air and marvel at the imposing beauty of the Pacific Ocean. Let's pull over for a few minutes and gaze at the centuries-old, persevering-and-powerful, unassuming miracle of the local church.
There are many ways to describe the church according to the New Testament. The church as a building, a flock, vine and branches, and possibly most significant, the church as family. You may have a lot of emotion around the idea of church and even family. To bring the two of these together can be explosive, yet what Jesus did in uniting people is very different. And what he did to turn them into a family is nothing short of a miracle. Imagine a place where you feel welcome, known, and accepted. Welcome to the church of Jesus.
When lived faithfully, the church community is among the most life-giving and counter cultural realities of the good news of Jesus. Yet, many of us have been deeply wounded in a church community. Still others of us struggle to see the relevance of church--we feel fine with a personal relationship with God and maybe a few Christian friends. Given the negative experiences and skepticism toward the church that many of us have on the one hand, and the life-giving, revolutionary spiritual family that church can be and has been in faithful communities around the world on the other, let’s ask the obvious question: How can we, The River Church, be all that Jesus intends His church to be right here in the South Bay of Los Angeles? Join us as we begin a new series unpacking this question together.
Our family dog is a tall, 100-pound Rhodesian Ridgeback named National. (Named after our favorite band, not the baseball team) He’s two years old, in his physical prime, and originally bred to run and hunt alongside horses in the verdant plains of southern Africa. Leashed strolls in the paved paradise of Redondo Beach are nice, but hardly position this dog to do what he’s made to do. About once a week, however, Brae and I are able to let him run at full speed in the wilds of a Palos Verdes trail. Watching this animal off leash, galloping at 25 miles an hour is a vision to behold. Free, uninhibited, and fully-alive. Let’s kick off the new year considering what would happen if we all ran off leash a bit more in 2022?
This Christmas Eve we were together to celebrate the advent of Christ, the night Jesus came down to earth to rescue us. The bottom line is we all needed to be rescued. Every single one of us. Christmas is God’s rescue plan, Jesus coming to earth as a babe, becoming a man, and taking our place, paying the ultimate price for our crimes and misdemeanors, restoring our relationship with God. This year, we desperately need to be reminded of that. Come join us as we sing and reflect on this monumental event gifting us with something far more important than a new pickleball racket, a Yeti coffee mug, or a leather satchel.
Jesus is two days old. He is doing all the things babies do when they are fresh in the world - crying, eating, sleeping, more crying, pooping, and just flat out being adorable. Mary and Joseph were doing all the things parents do when they have a baby two days old - crying of joy, eating a little, holding their baby, not sleeping a wink, crying from pain and recovery, staring at the gift and mystery in front of them, and falling all the more in love with their new child. This is day two. Not glamorous. Not glitzy. Raw and real, yet beautiful. A messy wonder. This is probably what this year has felt like to most. A messy wonder. Raw and real. Full of joy and loss, stress and laughter. But still God is moving in the midst of this. And that is what I want to explore together. How has God shown up in your life this year? In the raw and real moments?
Sometimes the most profound truths can only be communicated in song. This Sunday, we are going to continue our “Simple Christmas” series by opening our hearts and ears to song. We’ll sing a carol or two, we’ll experience our incredible “River Kids Christmas Sing” (a ridiculously-cute and powerful children’s performance), and finally we’ll open up the scriptures to the oldest and perhaps most-overlooked Christmas song ever written! Whether you like caroling or just want to sit back and soak in the splendor of the season, this is going to be something special!
John the Baptist introduces Andrew to Jesus, and then Andrew introduces Simon Peter, Simon introduces Philip, and Phillip introduces Nathaniel. It’s all in John 1. How did you meet Jesus? How would you describe the first time you encountered Jesus and discovered he’s real? Somebody introduced you. Hold onto that. I’m also guessing that when you met him you learned something unique about him. Maybe, he meets your deepest needs, that he forgives, or he transforms lives. Close encounters with Jesus are weighty experiences.
It’s beginning to look like Christmas. Do you know why? Not because of the lights, trees, glitter and some annual Christmas brittle. Why? Because this is the time of year that we celebrate the truly unique, awe inspiring, miraculous, God coming to earth in the form of a child. We celebrate a birth. Not like any other birth though, not like any other child. This one has spoken to the depth of our being about our true condition and need for an eternal savior. Our son and daughter just had their first child, a boy. And how we are celebrating. The whole family gathered over Thanksgiving to meet our new Wendorff addition, Delphinium Theodore Wendorff. Little August, Clara and Chloe all greeted him with great excitement. We all think our kids and grandkids will do great things and be great people, but there was only one birth that would bring eternal salvation to all of humankind. Now that’s worth celebrating this Christmas. In the beginning was the word and the word was God and became flesh.
We live in a moment of profound anxiousness. It's an anxiousness that spills over into every area of life--our relationships with ourselves, our relationships with others (especially those we disagree with), and even our relationships with God. In this moment of anxiousness, what should the coming of Jesus mean for those who would follow Him? Listen in as we start our Advent series, Simple Christmas, by looking together at Luke 2:22-28 and learning about Jesus, our long expected hope.
Humans love stories. We do. We love to be captivated and motivated by the stories of sages, of poets, and of comedians (Siendfeld for me!). More than this, we love to use stories to communicate morals and what the "good life" looks like. This is the core of childhood. As the holidays are fast approaching, this is no more clearly portrayed than in the story of Santa. Want a present? Be a good kid! Morals communicated in fantasy. Even as adults, although not as cognizantly, we are molded by the stories around us. The movies we watch, the books we read, the (lived) biographies of those near and far shape us. That is why so many of us want to do house exchanges around the holidays - thank you Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet!
I want to be shaped by another story. The story of Jesus clearing the temple. And no, the moral of this story is not to see flipping tables as a proper way to get out aggression, though probably super satisfying! Rather, in this story, Jesus invites us to participate in the story of God's presence with humanity. Jesus invites his disciples to enjoy real intimacy with God that extends to all people. In the end, Jesus teaches us three things: 1) that we live in the space of God's presence with us, 2) that we should have faith that can move mountains, and 3) have prayer lives rooted in forgiveness. If we are shaped by this story, and truly live into the reality of which it speaks, our lives will be changed forever.
On my walk today I was listening to the Psalms. Ps 23, The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing... Ps 24, The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it... Ps 25, In you, Lord, my God, I put my trust... Ps 26, Lord, I love the house where you live... Then in Ps 27, the last verse got me. I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. That’s what I want to talk about this when we look at Luke 20:27-40. That’s what Jesus meant when he described the Resurrection to a bunch of skeptics who didn’t believe in a resurrection. I want to live in the land of the living now and forever. Jesus made that possible.
Sometime ago I got sued for a bike accident on the Strand. It went to a jury trial in the Torrance Courthouse. My home insurance lawyer represented me, but I was my only witness. The woman suing me hired a lawyer and multiple expert testimonies. I won, the jury believed that my testimony was valid, hers a stretch. I knew the truth in my heart, and swore with hand raised to tell the truth, and so was confident before my opponent. Jesus faced a way different trial, and was calm and confident, secure in his own testimony about his identity and calling. But he had another witness, his profoundly intimate relationship with his Father. As followers of Jesus, we are invited to face the trials coming at us with an uncommon serenity because we know, really know, who God is. Read John 8:12-20 and see how Jesus pulled this off.
When was the last time you were in a street fight? I’m not talking about a family argument, or social media beef, but a full-on physical altercation? There’s an old military-strategy saying: “No plan survives first contact with the enemy.” I like Mike Tyson’s version better: “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” What you or I think we are or would do in a fight is often very different than what we actually end up doing. There’s something about being in a physically-strained, dangerous situation that is revealing. Let's sit ringside and behold Jesus in a street fight. What does he fall back on in crisis? What are his instincts? What emerges from the Messiah when under attack? And what can we learn about ourselves from watching the master in a high-stakes battle? Grab your gloves and gi and let’s learn from a combat master!
Two foundational questions that consistently percolate in our brains, and even more if you are young, are: 1] who am I? and 2] what can I do? These questions get at core rumblings in our soul. What is my identity, and what is my purpose or mission? Why am I taking up space on this planet? Are you, today, in your quiet moments, settled or unsettled in answering these strategic questions? We might give Jesus a pass, but even He had to come to grips with his answers. There was so much noise, so many competing voices, telling Him what to be and do. Same for us. As we continue our series, The Stories That Shape Us, we will seek to let Jesus show us the pathway to getting good answers to our most important questions.
What does it mean to love God? How do we love God? I wonder if I asked 20 people this question, I’d probably get 20 answers. Read his word. Meditate. Be kind to others. Pray. Talk to him. Serve in church. Go to church. So what does Jesus say about this? What does it really mean to love God? And secondarily, Jesus tells us in Matthew 22 that loving people is right up there with loving God. How do we do that? Jesus takes us all the way back to the Old Testament to remind us of what it was like for a Hebrew family to love God and love people to reinforce to us that the greatest commandment ever given still applies today.
Whether we realize it or not, each of us is shaped by a story we tell ourselves—a story of who we are, who God is (or isn’t), and of our place in the world. As a church committed to the words and ways of Jesus, our question is, what does it look like to be shaped by the same story that shaped Jesus? As we look at Jesus’ life we see that He was saturated in the Old Testament. So what was His approach to Scripture? And what would it look like to be shaped by Scripture the same way that Jesus was?
We live in a cultural moment caught between the desires (and often pressures) to "find" ourselves on the one hand and "better" ourselves on the other. But in a world full of so many messages about how to "find" and "better" ourselves, what does a process of real maturity look like? What path does Jesus invite us to walk on? And what would taking the next step even look like? Join us as we finish our series in the book of Hebrews with a teaching from Hebrew 5:11-6:12 on The Path of Maturity.
Hebrews 4 could be considered the Christian manifesto for the church. Elrond in Lord of the Rings once said, “Every path you’ve trod, through wilderness, through war, has led to this road.” Which road is that? The writer of Hebrews indicates that road is the road that leads to God’s rest. Many of us have been taught the exact opposite. That road leads to greater effort, more output, obligation. Yet the manifesto of our faith reminds us that our greatest effort and output comes out of rest. In fact, entering this rest is the objective of our salvation. Dallas Willard once said, “Hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life in our day.” In fact the modern world is a virtual conspiracy against the interior life according to John Mark Comer. Get the secret of rest and you find the secret to the Christian life. It’s that important.
When I hike, I look at the path in front of me. I’m looking down carefully navigating the terrain on the path in front of me. I trust the path. It’s been laid out for me. I don’t question it. It’s well worn. I just need to pay attention to where I am stepping. That’s what Hebrews 3 is about, there’s a path, and Jesus is one leading us along that path. Will you trust him? In fact, faith can be defined as trusting Jesus lead. That’s faith. Trusting Jesus lead. That simple. In either words, he’s your compass. He points the direction forward. Will you trust him? Remember, you can’t run the race without trusting the way forward.
Hebrews 12 says we are in a race and the only way to compete is by keeping your eyes on Jesus. OK. How? That’s what the whole book is about, keeping our eyes on Jesus. The early part of the letter gives us 4 ways to keep our eyes on Jesus. Drop an Anchor. Use a compass. Refine your purpose. Develop a plan. Whether you are young or old, you need all four to stay the course and finish well. Doesn’t matter whether you are a school teacher, a student, a stay at home parent, a lawyer or real estate tycoon. You’ll need all four. Let’s talk about that anchor this weekend from Hebrews 1-2 - "paying closer attention to what we have heard lest we drift". The slow drift. I know about that. I’m a boater. No anchor, poorly set anchor, incorrectly placed anchor, wrong anchor and you are going to drift. The slow drift is painful to watch. The person drifting isn’t even aware of it. It’s subtle. You were doing fine as Paul said in Galatians 5. “You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?” In other words, who or what messed you up? In 1 Timothy 1 Paul says, “fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience.” Or what? Or you will be like Hymemaeus and Alexander, both whom have "suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith”. Do you know how shipwrecks happen? Not knowing where the shoals are and not having a good anchoring system. I learned to set an anchor from a good, old crusty sea worthy boating friend. I was doing it all wrong. No wonder we drifted. Let’s talk anchors and Jesus and how to stop the slow drift.
Are you experiencing extended periods of stress resulting in exhaustion, detachment, feelings of ineffectiveness, chronic fatigue, increasing pessimism, self-isolation, or irritability in the face of otherwise small problems? If so, you may be looking down the barrels of burnout--the psycho-somatic-pneumatic crisis; not the surf spot. Let’s look at one of the most fascinating stories in all the Bible and have an honest talk about the painful prospect of burnout. The message is probably not for most of you…right now. But if you are human, it will eventually be.
None of us have got to the place we are today alone, but instead we stand on the shoulders of those before us. My parents were influential, but two great men have had a powerful impact on helping me be the man I am today. Jerry Johnson was my goofy youth pastor who modeled unconditional love and taught me to be a leader. Garry Poe was my tough baseball coach who modeled the courage of manhood and taught me how to pay the price to reach goals. Who has the shoulders of greatness that you are standing on today? This is what our “Show Me” summer series has been all about. We stand on the shoulders of these intriguing characters in the Scriptures who have shown us what it looks like to follow the words and ways of Jesus. We wrapped up the series by considering Hebrews 11 and how the ancients show us what real faith looks like. I’m inviting my friend, Lauren Donahue, founder of Laleigh Coffee, to help us by sharing her story of courageous faith.
Think of someone in your life that you love. One of your good friends. Someone you could call in the middle of the night in an emergency. Someone who’s allowed in your house when your dishes aren’t done. Someone who’s witnessed a family argument or is safe with your emotion. Someone who holds you accountable. Someone who knows what you are praying about right now. Hold that thought!
There's a man Jesus loved named Lazarus. You'd think this man would get special perks and extra health and protection. After all, his dear friend is the Savior of the World. But the story goes a little differently. The way Jesus loves Lazarus is with a completely different set of priorities. Holy ones. How do you define and what do you expect of love? Full stop.
The Lord has something special for us, so let's open His Word together and be encouraged and renewed with hope and vigor to live for the Glory of God because of His great love.
This weekend we looked at Martha, a friend of Jesus. We picked up the story and Martha’s sister Mary is sitting at the feet of Jesus listening intently, caught up in this rare opportunity to have Jesus all too herself. Martha was busy preparing lunch. It’s recorded in Luke 10:38-42. She was bothered that Mary was not helping her. Jesus saw this and addressed Martha’s distracted heart. “One thing is necessary Martha, and Mary has chosen the good thing.” In other words, “Look at your sister Martha and learn from her. She's got it right.” Martha often gets thrown under the bus, doesn’t she? She’s chosen the wrong thing, or at least it appears that way. Unless Jesus isn’t saying it’s a choose "this or that“ kind of deal, but a learn the secret to the "both and". Stillness and busyness are not arch enemies but sisters. Join us to learn about Martha and her authentic, all too common struggle with juggling busyness and stillness in a slow paced world. Jump ahead 2000 years and add the challenge of living in a fast paced world and you have the potential for disaster unless we learn the secret of the “both and”.
Have you ever had such a crystal-clear idea in your head and heart about Jesus that you actually missed his work in some part of your life? This week we visited Mark’s ancient biography of Jesus and strolled through a well-trodden gallery featuring several prominent characters who, despite their insider knowledge and advantaged positions, totally missed Jesus’s biggest moment. Then, in the far wing of Mark’s museum we’re going to sit before a less-frequented but astounding portrait of an unnamed woman; a woman who fostered a remarkable and risky recognition of Jesus.
We are continuing our summer series looking at unheralded heroes of our faith. Unique men and women who show us what it looks like to follow God in their lives, and what we can imitate in ours.
This week we will examine the conversion of Lydia. A woman who clearly had God work in her life as she heard the Word of God from Paul. God works in opening hearts and minds to receive his message. He did it with Lydia, and he still does it today!
We will also make time to hear from our Hume Lake campers. They too have had God open their hearts to receiving the message of God, and can show us more real life examples, just like Lydia.
What happens when the transforming power of a Jesus-shaped love collides with your reality? I’m not talking about the emotional fireworks of the transcendent mountaintop experiences we all love so much. I’m talking about the practical collision of Jesus-love into your every-day experience? What happens when Jesus-love collides with your daily protocols? Career? Love life? Recreation? Education? Investments? Relationships? Worldview? This weekend we explored a spectacular Jesus-love collision captured in a tiny note penned to a small church involving some of the highest stakes. Join us to consider Philemon and Onesimus—two often-overlooked ancient Christian leaders with everything on the line.
Christine Caine has a saying, “Sometimes you are in a dark place and think you have been buried, when actually, you have been planted!” Too often our perspective becomes darkened with discouragement. We question God, doubt our faith, and wonder if we can go on. We feel like giving up. We feel powerless.
Just like the early believers in Acts, we grow weary. We have doubt. We get distracted. We become discouraged. All of us need that someone who builds support, hope and strength back into our life. All of us need the reminder that light is coming, and blooms and fruitfulness are on its way!
This weekend, we continued our look at followers of Jesus in the New Testament and met Barnabus. His name actually means, Son of Encouragement! This man had the unique ability to come alongside others and build strength back into their perspective. Barnabus was able to see the small traces of grace that maybe others didn’t see or recognize. He knew the secret sauce that built strength for believers to make it for the long haul. He made it “his job” to encourage those around him, to remain in Jesus.
Some of you are a Barnabus, and if you own this mission, you can strengthen the lives of those around you. Some of you need a Barnabus, and if you find one, you can stand back up and believe God and continue to walk with confidence.
This Sunday we continued our look into interesting, but lesser known characters of the New Testament who show us what it looks like to follow the words and ways of Jesus. I want to introduce you to “the woman from Lebanon who has a name, but we just don’t know it” [my sermon title]. Her pleading persistence is met by Jesus’ puzzling resistance. Some neat and tidy boxes we stuff Jesus into will be opened up to the bigger story going on all around us. This woman [with a name] will serve as a forerunner for us, showing us how to “pull the future into the present.” Sound confusing? Yes, it is, but take a listen and I will do my best to bring some clarity to Jesus’ invitation to pray that God’s will that is currently done in heaven may become a reality for us here on earth, now. Read this woman’s story in Matthew 15:21-28 and Mark 7:24-30.
Have you ever skipped over a name in the Bible because you couldn't pronounce it? Well I have one for you... Sosthenes. Difficult to pronounce? Probably. But definitely not a name to skip over. This troublesome name is mentioned only twice in all of Scripture, so it is easy to miss, but we don't want to! Sosthenes played an important role in the growing church. One of the times his name appears is right next to Paul's at the introduction to 1st Corinthians. Yes, Sosthenes was co-author of one of the greatest New Testament letters to one of the most troubling churches! We don't want to miss an author of the New Testament now do we? But what else do we know about Sosthenes? Let's take some time to explore the other time his name is mentioned. It appears in the book of Acts, right in the center of a great drama about what God was doing in Corinth. Listen and hear about this guy, Sosthenes, and how he got swept up into the movement of God.
Your life, like mine, could be turned into an interesting film. Good book and screen writers look for the inciting incident, that episode, plot point or event that hooks the reader/viewer into the story. This moment is the event in your life that thrusts the protagonist [you] into the main action of the story. We often experience an inciting incident as an interruption in the trajectory of our life; a change or death to our dreams. If you thought for a moment, or even plotted your life story so far, you could probably identify one, two, or more inciting incidents or interruptions in the film of your journey on this planet. God is not surprised nor disengaged with us in these moments, but instead is mysteriously aware and always writing a better story out of the bitter. The New Testament character Philip shows us how to live a life of freedom through interruptions, as he is blown by the puzzling but powerful wind of the Holy Spirit. I’ll identify three key scenes in his life found in Acts 6 & 8, with some final closing credits in Acts 21. I don’t promise you will get clarity on your inciting incidents, but I think you will walk away from our worship and teaching with a renewed sense of hope, encouragement, and refreshment in the wind of the Holy Spirit.
Do you feel connected to The Church…? Do you value it...? Love it…? Do you know why or why not?
Do you serve The Church…? What does that even mean for you…?
……What is your relationship to The River Church of the South Bay?
There’s a woman Paul entrusts with the only copy of the book of Romans because she is so critical to The Church. She’s all the way in and I bet it wasn’t drama free, but it sure was beautiful. As we take a look at her through Paul’s eyes, we see that she is dear to his heart because The Church is dear to hers. Is The Church dear to yours?
Let's talk about this sweet lil snippet from Romans together.
Our New Series for the Summer: Characters of the New Testament Living Out the Words and Ways of Jesus. Shorter Version? "Show Me!” Show me Timothy, show me Priscilla, Philemon, Barnabas, Phoebe, Mary….What’s it look like to walk with Jesus? Show me! For Timothy, it was learning the words and ways of Jesus through his adopted spiritual father, Paul. Paul treated Timothy as a beloved son. He believed in him. He taught him. He encouraged him. This has been a tough year for all of us. We all need a mentor like Paul to encourage us to keep the faith, fight the fight. Timothy was a young man in his faith when Paul brought him along on his journeys. As a result of that relationship, Timothy finished out his life well. Recent surveys point to a majority of young people in the church ditching their faith by their sophomore year in college. Do you know why? Do you know why they don’t finish well like Timothy? Let’s talk about it!
Todd Wendorff
We are all familiar with the pastor who says that he is "landing the plane," but then proceeds to make five more points about tangential material to the topic. "This is my last point" (subtext: there are 10 more things I would like to say...). In defense of the pastor, who does not serve at the River.., he may argue that he is landing the plane, just in a long, slow descent. In some ways, this is what the end of Paul's letter to the Thessalonians feels like. It reads like a letter with multiple endings, like it is drawn out. While we do not always appreciate the gradual decline of a lengthy sermon, I believe we ought to love Paul's concluding remarks to the Thessalonians. In this final section, Paul is intentionally giving pithy commands to the growing community. Paul prays that God will sanctify them wholly and completely, and the commands he gives are intended to guide them in this sanctification process. I believe we also have a lot to learn from this section of the letter, as we too are a community that God is sanctifying.
Luke
One of the significant memories I have of my high school Jesus days was going to Calvary Santa Ana for concerts and evangelistic rallies. Jesus was my high and the afterglows remain a highlight. It was such a big part of my life, my parents sat me down to find about more about these Jesus rallies. I remember that a hyped anticipation of the Lord returning was in the air like a crisp cold morning telling us the season is changing. “Maranatha" was proclaimed daily. That, and “dude, praise the Lord.” Maranatha means “Lord, come quickly.” I lived each day believing the Lord was returning soon. Fifty years later, I’m still believing that. And so did Paul 2000 years ago. Ever since Jesus ascended into the heavens, He told his followers to be ready for his return. Well? Was he mistaken or delayed? No to both. When, is anybody’s guess but we know he’s coming back to get us and to set all things right. I live with that hope and it changes things.
Todd
I don’t have a proper sermon blurb. (This is on purpose; not a procrastination thing) Instead, if you’ll allow me, I’m inviting three embarrassingly-simple, grammatically-challenged questions to percolate into your week: 1) Where is creative wisdom in your world? 2) How is your quiet? 3) What do you hope?
Let’s explore some ancient wisdom (1 Thessalonians 4) and merge these potent preguntas into your almost post-pandemic, probably-over-crowded 2021.
*Preguntas is Spanish for “questions,” and was used for the purposes of fun and alliteration.
James
Everyone wants to win at life. Whether it’s in your marriage, your relationship with your kids, your friendships, or in your job, we want to win. It defines who you are. It sets the course of your life. What’s that look like to you? For Paul, first Thessalonians chapter 3 tells us that it’s about your faith. Five times he mentions faith. One commentator says faith isn't everything but it most certainly is the most important thing. Without faith it is impossible to please God. Faith is how we come to Christ and faith is how we live for Christ. Join me this week as we explore our win, our faith lived out in all aspects of our lives. Todd
“Leadership is influence,” said the professor when asked to define leadership. My conclusion: if we influence others, we are leaders. You and I, whether we admit it or not, are leaders in our own sphere of influence. How might we refine the positive influence of our life in those we love? Our River Church community is learning from the followers of Jesus in the coastal town of Thessalonica; and they show us that “those who follow the words and ways of Jesus are inevitably led to invest in others.” Three leaders, or mentors if you will, invested in the church of the Thessalonians … Paul, Silas, and Timothy were model mentors for a model church. Sunday morning we’ll read through 1 Thessalonians 2 and consider some of the characteristics of a leader whose influence has been marinated in the words and ways of Jesus. -Bill
I wonder what it was like to go to church in the fist century. There were no buildings, no loud speakers, and no smoke machines. People showed up in homes, hosted by followers of Jesus who shared the letters of Paul, circulated by Paul’s runners. Oral accounts were told of Jesus and the disciples. There was a sense of excitement as people gathered to learn of Jesus and share what they had with one another. Prayer and worship were components of their gathering along with a meal and discussions about faith and life. We get glimpses into the first century church through Paul’s letters, collected in the New Testament. In I Thessalonians, Paul addresses a church in the Roman province of Thessalonica, a strategic and prominent city that grew in importance in the Christian world because of it’s deep faith and spiritual maturity. In chapter 1, we learn the secret of how the gospel took root in their lives and influenced other nearby cities and towns. How does the gospel take root in your life and impact others, as Paul says, “from idols to serve a living and true God.”?
Todd
Did you see River Runs Through It? It’s based upon a book by Norman Maclean about his family, one of two sons of a Presbyterian pastor. At the end of the book, he looks back on his life. His parents and brother are all gone. He is alone standing on the edge of the river he spent his childhood, fishing. He says he is haunted by the waters. They hold the mystery of his life. They tell the story. I am haunted by something. I want to share that this weekend as we reflect back over 12 weeks on the teachings of Jesus and what I believe drove Jesus as he challenged his disciples. He wanted more than anything for his disciples to get what it takes to live the life of the disciple from Luke 14:25-35.
Todd
Most people who haven't had much of a background in attending a church or hearing sermons have at least heard of the “golden rule” (a term not found in the Bible, but certainly taught in the Bible), or quite possibly, the sermon on the mount, (“blessed are the poor in spirit”), but for sure they've heard the story of the Good Samaritan. He is called” good" because he stopped and cared for a complete stranger. Even though no one was looking and there would be no reward for this Samaritan’s deeds, he did it anyway. I want to ask the question, not what happened? But, why did Jesus tell this parable? Why did you tell that story Jesus? Well, obviously the reason is He wants us all to show a little care for our neighbor. Duh! Or was there a deeper reason? This is our final message in a 12 week focus that has emphasized The Art of Following Jesus. Let’s end well this weekend as we finish with a message on Sharing His Story.
Todd
Generosity is much more, but not less, than giving of your money and resources. Generosity is regarded as a virtue. Furthermore, we resemble God in His goodness when we are generous. If you desire to grow in generosity, you can learn more about the Biblical meaning of generosity through this podcast and the additional resources and curriculum provided here.
Your life is a series of short stories forming a larger narrative. This fascinating narrative is the sum total of your reflection on, and reaction to, the multitude of experiences rushing toward you every day. Your testimony to the world, to quote Luke Schroeder, is your personal reflection and reaction to your experiences with the living God [listen to Luke’s excellent podcast on Testimony here.] In The Art of Following Jesus we are reflecting and reacting to his words and ways. The more we let Jesus shape our reactions to our experiences, the more we discover that our story is beautifully intertwined with and follows the trajectory of the Big Story of God. Telling this story to our friends and neighbors is our Testimony.
This Sunday, I’ll tell the story of a man desperate in pain, ostracized and isolated, who meets Jesus, discovering God has power over evil, and that Jesus’ compassion will cross any boundary to bring life and freedom. Read Mark 5:1-20 and see the three stories: the story of Jesus, the story of the man, and the story of his community. You might even find that your story can be caught up in his.
Bill
A testimony is a personal story of how God has interacted in your life. This is the story of how Jesus entered into your life, and how you have been changed through knowing him. This story is your story and it is powerful and beautiful; it has the power to change others journeys with God around you.
We are planing a very exciting time together this Sunday as we celebrate the most important historical event that has literally rocked this world; The Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The resurrection is the account of God coming down to earth to die in our place so that we could live. From death to life so that we could experience new life. It is the most hope filled message of the year. Bring your friends and family and join us either at the beach or at the Norris for a time of worship, a message, and a story of life change through the eyes of two of our own church attenders. It’s going to be transforming. Then, if you like, join us for baptism right after the beach service. We will gladly baptize you as a testimony to your faith in Christ. Don’t forget to join us Friday evening from 5pm-6pm for a one hour reflection time on the beach for Good Friday.
Todd
What comes to mind when you read the words, share the gospel? For me, in light of my history as a Christian and my quasi-neurotic personality, I’m immediately struck with a handful of rather negative impressions. Brace yourself, this is going to start off on a downer, but I promise, the message won’t be. My feelings and thoughts at the prospect of “evangelism” probably begin with shame: “I don’t share the good news of Jesus enough.” I quickly move to my general distaste for sales and the “salesperson” feeling I get when I awkwardly force Jesus into a conversation. I dabble in comparison: “Todd/Denise/Bill/Brae/Brixton/etc. is so much better at this than I am. What’s my problem?!” I sometimes take an excursion into my fear of the socially-awkward “talking religion” in our day and age. I may rehearse a few botched gospel-sharing attempts from my past. I wrestle with the blurry popular ethics of proselytism (I know plenty of folks who think no one should ever encourage someone to change their current faith position). Finally, I often trip over the main gospel “talking points” (what exactly are the main points I need to “hit” for this to “count” as evangelism?). On this last point, my head is populated by a panel of Christian experts grading my performance. Sometimes one of them has a buzzer. I know what you’re thinking—this guy shouldn’t be a pastor; he should see a therapist. Well, I do see a therapist, but that’s not the point of this blurb. The point is that I don’t think I’m alone in my trepidations at sharing the good news of Jesus in our modern world. If you ever find yourself stung by a swarm of apprehensions at the prospect of evangelism, then this Sunday’s message is for you! There will be no guilt, shame, quotas, awards, or clever 1,2,3 algorithms for sharing the good news of Jesus. All I want us to do is crack open John’s Gospel (chapter 4) and observe the organic, elegant, and compelling dynamics involved in one of the first ever “evangelism” events in ancient Samaria.
James
Throughout the Bible we see God's people, over and over again, share the story of God's redeeming and transformative love. The theological word for this is evangelism and it is the act of sharing with others about God’s story and the nature of God’s kingdom. This is something we do with our words and with the actions of our lives.
Challenge Ideas: Quick Dip - Listen to the podcast about Sabbath on The Art of Following Jesus Page (https://riversouthbay.org/jump-in/the-art-of-following-jesus). Buoy Swim - Listen to the podcast and do the worksheet. Pier to Pier - Listen to the podcast, do the worksheet, and utilize an additional resource listed on the podcast description.
I almost didn’t want to tell you what I’ll be teaching. I fear someone might read this email and decide to skip church this week. Maybe I would… But I promise this weekend’s sermon won’t be about making anyone feel guilt or shame. It won’t be about adding a single thing to your full calendar or your life.
As we look at the words and ways of Jesus this Sunday, I think we’ll uncover God’s original intent behind the “Sabbath.” I want our first reaction to this word to become even more than simply a positive one. I pray that the Word of God will come alive and the Holy Spirit will work in us to stir a deep longing in our bodies and souls when we hear the invitation to Sabbath … A practice of rest and delight that leads us to a posture of worship and brings clarity to everything. Only when we practice the Sabbath like Jesus did, we will be able to play our part in the kingdom of Heaven on earth.
Jesus’ words in Mark 2:27 reveal to us a true gift from God...the Sabbath. Yet, if there is a gift from God that many of us choose to reject it is the Sabbath. “Stop work and rest” that’s impractical. “One day off from work” I cannot afford to take time off. Our culture does not honor a break from our productive lives. Yet, the Sabbath is a gift from God that we need to receive. It is a gift that makes space for us to hear from God, enjoy God, receive the good things God wants to give us, and allows us to love our neighbor.
We all want the efforts of our lives to mean something--we want to live lives of purpose, passion and impact. But can't we all also think of people who are full of passion to change the world while oozing ugly, self-righteous pride? And in a world with so many needs and in which certain types of contributions are glorified while others are ignored, burn out often feels inevitable. So as we learn together from the words and ways of Jesus to play a part in God's mission, we have to ask ourselves a crucial question: How can we find our part to play in bringing redemptive life to the world without falling into the trap of self-righteousness and without burning out in the process? Join us this Sunday as we learn together to be people who serve in the power of the Holy Spirit with the gifts of the Spirit.
Taylor
Spiritual Giftedness is referring to different spiritual gifts or talents given by the Holy Spirit to all believers in order to serve others and experience the body of Christ working together. These gifts are God's supernatural strength and ability showing up in our lives in various ways.
In this topic of the Holy Spirit, we discuss the mission of the Holy Spirit in our daily lives and as a part of the Godhead. In John 14 verse 16, Jesus tells us of an "advocate" that he will ask the Father to provide us with forever. In this session, we give practical tools on how to invite our Heaven sent helper and advocate into our daily lives.
View the worksheet and other resources for The Art of Following Jesus on our website: https://riversouthbay.org/jump-in/the-art-of-following-jesus
Following Jesus is a wonderful journey that encompasses all of our lives. And one of the best parts of this journey is that we are in it together! It is wonderful to be a part of the people who are following the words and ways of Jesus of Nazareth, allowing him to change our values, goals, and lifestyles!
This week we will be focusing on the topic of "honor." I am sure many parents are hoping the Pastor of Student Ministries is going to talk about how important the fifth commandment is: "honor your father and mother." It seems like a good time to reinforce good behavior from your children :) While I may make a quick mention of this for you, I want to focus on the concepts associated with honor - greatness, prestige, and dignity. We see these all the time at work in our lives. Everyday we see people attempting to outperform each other in order to become great, prestigious, and dignified. But what does Jesus have to say about these pursuits? What does it mean to be great in the Kingdom of God? How do we show this honor to each other in the church? We are going to ponder both the words and ways of Jesus, and see that his teaching and his life completely flip the cultural conceptions of honor on its head!
-Luke
As a follower of Jesus, and having enjoyed the power of His forgiveness, honor is a part of the fabric of who we are, our new identity in Christ—it is a gift that we can give to others and enjoy the blessing of joy it brings to us. Join us as we take a peek at HONOR.
View the worksheet and other resources for The Art of Following Jesus on our website: https://riversouthbay.org/jump-in/the-art-of-following-jesus
Grace is the unfettered love of God that is available to all. It says, "You are forgiven, you are loved, you are important to me.” It seasons life in a way that brings out the true flavor of what God has for our delight. Without it, we are held in bondage to retribution, retaliation, and unforgiveness. Without it we would live in a world where you get what you deserve, only that what is earned. The interesting thing about grace is no one deserves grace, but God freely bestows it on us all because of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.
View the worksheet and other resources for The Art of Following Jesus on our website: https://riversouthbay.org/jump-in/the-art-of-following-jesus
Challenge Ideas: Quick Dip - Listen to the podcast on Grace on The Art of Following Jesus Page (https://riversouthbay.org/jump-in/the-art-of-following-jesus). Buoy Swim - Listen to the podcast and do the worksheet. Pier to Pier - Listen to the podcast, do the worksheet, and utilize an additional resource listed on the podcast description.
In this adventure of following the words and ways of Jesus, we are like artists, painting on the blank canvas of our lives, letting Jesus show us how to create something beautiful, which then reflects our love-drenched partnership to the people around us. We call it The Art of Following Jesus. As his disciples, or followers, learners, or apprentices, we are learning to follow his words and ways, putting them into practice with one another.
We are focusing on Jesus’ big value of Enjoy, which means enjoying one another. One of Jesus’ most consistent priorities is that those who follow him would be dispensers of grace. I’ve been struggling with what appears to be the grace-starved condition of our current cultural moment. Why is that? Do you have ideas? One of my conclusions, among many, is that before grace can flow out of us, it first has to flow into us. In my personal reflections, I am astounded by how little grace I give myself. People who understand the relationship between our human emotions and spiritual growth tell me that if we can’t receive grace, we often can silently, or loudly become brittle, overly-critical, and judgmental.
Jesus wants to shower our lives with the tasty seasoning of Grace. Let’s get honest about this practice as we Enjoy one another this weekend.
Communion is arguably the most beautiful and special act that Christians do together. It symbolizes the sacred union that we have with Jesus Christ because of his death, and it shows the unity we have with each other as we belong to Christ. We partake of the same loaf of bread (unless we are gluten free...) showing our communal relationship. This life changing practice finds its home in the regular rhythms of the church gathering.
View the worksheet and other resources for The Art of Following Jesus on our website: https://riversouthbay.org/jump-in/the-art-of-following-jesus
Growing up the table was the place that held our family together the strongest. We met each night formally around a beautiful walnut table with inlaid cherry that my father had made years earlier than my birth. It sat in a formal dining room where rich and intimate conversation about life and our dreams took place. We caught up and got to know each other around that table. We were truly a family at that table. We left that table and lived out our dreams. No wonder Jesus instructs his disciples to dine with him at a table the night he explains how his death and sacrifice on the cross will be remembered for millenniums to come. Celebrate his death together, and in so doing we bring together the family of God that unites us to our Heavenly Father, to each other, and our dreams.
Join us as we explore the true meaning of communion- the church is a table from Luke 22.
Todd
Many of us associate worshipping the Lord with raising our hands above our head and singing songs of praise at church on Sunday mornings. Some of us enter into this physical posture and spiritual place with ease, while others find it uncomfortable or awkward. While this is definitely one form of worship, there are actually many other ways that we can enter into worship. Things like dancing, creating, and even talking can all be forms of true worship when they flow out of a heart that is postured in complete reverence of God. When we can grasp the meaning and purpose of worship, we can more easily enter into this posture and embrace worship in its many different forms.
View the worksheet and other resources for The Art of Following Jesus on our website: https://riversouthbay.org/jump-in/the-art-of-following-jesus
Challenge Ideas: Quick Dip - Listen to the podcast "Worship" on The Art of Following Jesus page. Buoy Swim - Listen to the podcast and go through the worksheet, "Worship the Lord". Pier to Pier - Listen to the podcast, go through the worksheet, and use one of the additional materials listed on the podcast description.
I remember riding up a lift at Mammoth with a wild-eyed, bearded-awesome-outdoorsman and we got to talking about God and nature. “This is my church,” he claimed, pointing to the beautiful trees, snowpack, and mountains. I shared his sentiment about how awesome it was, but I probed a bit. “This is what I love, this is what I worship,” he declared, arms opened wide.
Last year I was intrigued by what James K. A. Smith said, “You need to invest in the formation of your imagination. You need to curate your heart. You need to worship well. Because you are what you love. And you worship what you love. And you might not love what you think."
It has caused me to think more deeply about what I love, and the implications of worshipping what I love. We are in the midst of 12 important conversations about the words and ways of Jesus so that we can be more thoughtful, informed, inspired disciples or apprentices. This weekend we’ll talk about Worship. What did Jesus say about worship? How did Jesus practice worship? It’s all called, The Art of Following Jesus.
Bill
"God’s word is our personal handbook, His love letter to us, and our True North as we navigate life. God’s Word sharpens us, and firmly roots us in our faith, fortifying our foundation. The Psalms say, His Word as a follower of Christ, is “a lamp to our feet and a light to our path”. Psalm 119:105"
View the worksheet and other resources for The Art of Following Jesus on our website: https://riversouthbay.org/jump-in/the-art-of-following-jesus
Challenge Ideas: Quick Dip - Listen to the podcast called Experience the Word (God's Word) on The Art of Following Jesus page (https://riversouthbay.org/jump-in/the-art-of-following-jesus). Buoy Swim - Listen to the podcast and go through the worksheet, "God's Word", under the "Resources" tab. Pier to Pier - Listen to the podcast, go through the worksheet, and go through the entire gospel of Matthew tracing how often Jesus alludes to or quotes scripture/use one of the additional materials listed on the podcast description.
When you hear the phrase, “read your Bible,” what emotions emerge? Joy? Guilt? Boredom? Curiosity? Freedom? Obligation? Clarity? Confusion? It’s probably a mixture for many of us and it probably depends on our past relationship to the scriptures and those propounding them. For me—a church kid, youth pastor, and now Bible professor—I have nurtured a complex and often contradictory range of emotions around the phrase: “Read the Bible.” Though I was never directly taught this, for much of my young life I thought of reading the Bible like it was somehow “doing God a favor” or something that if I didn’t do I would “let God down.” Rather than marshal out my own socio-emotional-spiritual relationship with that sacred compilation of ancient texts we call “The Bible,” let’s turn our gaze to Jesus’s relationship to these sacred scriptures. This Sunday, I want to do two very simple things: 1) showcase Jesus’s personal relationship with the scriptures, and 2) provide everyone with a handful of super practical tips for effectively soaking in the scriptures. Join us as we open Matthew’s biography of Jesus and consider the real estate the Bible occupies in our own lives!
James
"Prayer is not a duty to be performed but a privilege to be enjoyed, says E.M. Bounds. Prayer is about connecting our heart to His through conversation. Mother Theresa describes prayer as, not asking, but putting oneself in the hands of God, at His disposition, and listening to His voice in the depths of our heart."
View the worksheet and other resources for The Art of Following Jesus on our website: https://riversouthbay.org/jump-in/the-art-of-following-jesus
Challenge Ideas: Quick Dip - Listen to the podcast called Talk to The Father (Prayer) on The Art of Following Jesus page (https://riversouthbay.org/jump-in/the-art-of-following-jesus) and pray The Lord's Prayer. Buoy Swim - Listen to the podcast and pray The Lord's Prayer in steps, "chewing" on each verse and engaging with the scripture. Pier to Pier - Listen to the podcast, pray The Lord's Prayer in steps, and take time to intentionally pray over someone during a walk, FaceTime, etc.
We begin the Art of Following Jesus this weekend. I feel as though the River church is about to blossom. My wife has planted roses all around our house. She cuts them back each winter and they look like dead, useless, stumps in the ground. But each year, they begin to show signs of life and send out stems that eventually bring forth the fruit of her labor, beautiful roses. It’s time. Through our new focus on discipleship, following the words and ways of Jesus, we as a church will begin producing fruit that will be seen throughout the South Bay communities and beyond. It’s happening. This weekend we begin this new journey by focusing on prayer, a must for every person who wishes to follow Jesus. Prayer is three things: it’s conversational, it’s focused, and it’s transformational. We learn all three from Jesus as he prays to his father in John 17.
Todd
We are living in a time experiencing a tremendous leadership void. Questions like, “Where are the good leaders?", "Where are the men and women of character to lead the way?", "Who should we follow?", are gnawing on our souls. We desperately want to put our faith and trust in someone who can lead the way forward. I want to suggest we look to the one who is the source of all strength, the source of all comfort, the one who knows the way forward not just for tomorrow but every tomorrow after that. Hebrews says, Jesus has been "appointed heir of all things". That’s who I want to follow. Oh, and "through whom also he has made the world. And he is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power." That’s who I am going to follow into this next decade. How about you? We are embarking on the most significant stage of what I believe to be our church’s vision for the coming decades. We are calling it “The Art of Following Jesus.” Join us this weekend as I describe what that looks like for you and our entire church.
This Sunday morning, we come to a powerful conclusion to our series, “5 Words from Jesus to the Modern Jesus-Follower.” Do you remember the first four words? Love, Hardship, Identity, and Hold On. The final and fifth word turns the screws pretty tight on the church in Laodicea, and probably for us as well. The word from Jesus to us is “hot,” referring to a white-hot faith. All the words so far provide a Jesus-focused counter-narrative to the cultural liturgies we are so easily fooled into adopting as our true love, even if we think we do love God. The Laodiceans, and many church-attenders today, had not only lost their first-love, but had become smugly indifferent to the reality of the rule of God in the world and their lives, because of their boasting of what they had acquired and possessed. But the letter concludes with a beautiful invitation to turn this indifference around and enter into a deepening, intimate, life-altering, and increasingly hot—to the point of boiling over—relationship with the ever forgiving, unfailing love of God in Jesus.
Bill
“2020. I like the sound of that! It’s gonna be my year!” These were the words floating from my lips on January 1st. That beautiful day I went on a scenic beach run, I nostalgically listened to a “Hit Songs of the 2010’s” Spotify playlist, and I playfully pondered the excitement and promise of 2020. Goodness gracious did this year take a detour! [Note: my original draft of this blurb included a shortlist of our shared 2020 gut-punches. For the psychological benefit of you, dear reader, I’ve left the list out. Just re-reading it gave me hives] If you’re like me, this hasn’t been the year of emotional consolation or spiritual fireworks. It hasn’t been marked by pleasurable or high-energy formation as a follower of Jesus. Now more than ever we need to listen in on some ancient wisdom. Divine wisdom dropped on a cluster of Jesus communities facing hardships that make my glum 2020 look like a stroll through Disneyland (also closed; thanks, 2020). Join us this week as we explore two letters in Revelation 3 and contemplate the art and science of holding on.
James
This week at the River, we are exploring yet another word from Jesus to our River Church families and friends. That word is “identity". It comes out of Rev. 2, the letters to the church in Pergamum and the church in Thyratira. Who you are and whose you are make up the two components of identity. Everyone has one. We have an online identity. We have emojis that look like us or how we want others to perceive us. So, who are you? Whose are you? You must answer those two questions about yourself before you can step into the world around you. And as you know, Jesus has an answer to those questions. Jesus offers an alternative identity from the one the world wants to impose on you. It’s worth exploring. I would dare to say in oder to have a solid thriving faith in Christ, you need to have a clear understanding of your identity. Keep in mind this is a soul question as much as it is a mind question. You can “know” your identity but not experience it deep in your soul. Speaking to my counselor yesterday, I realized how much soul work I need to do in feeding my soul about who I am and whose I am in Him. Let Jesus speak to your soul this weekend as He tells you what He thinks of you.
Todd
"Jesus knows." Growing up as a church kid in a couple old-school, fundamentalist-style churches I've heard this phrase used plenty of times. Normally it was deployed by a well-meaning Sunday school teacher, youth pastor, or camp speaker to set up a spiritual surveillance apparatus aimed at behavior modification. Don't be naughty..."Jesus knows." This Sunday, however, we are going to re-encounter these two powerful words as they are spoken over an ancient church. A church who-—like many of us in the fog of quarantine, uncertainty, and destabilization—needs life, hope, solidarity, and a reminder that God is just as present now as He was the moment you first opened your life up to Him. Jesus knows. He knows your pain, He knows your fear, He knows your angst, He knows your hurts, He knows your disappointments, He knows. Not just cognitively or as another fact of reality; rather, He knows experientially. Join us to find out what this means in this ancient letter and in our bonkers 2020!
James
In Revelation 2-3 Jesus speaks to Christians at 7 different churches in the province of Asia and has 7 words for all followers of Christ. Word #1- First Love. Jesus tells the church of Ephesus that they lost their first love. You gotta get your love back if you lost it. It’s easy to be in and out of love. Often, we are afraid to let someone love us. Sometimes we don’t even realize when our heart is far from love. Have you ever listened to the top songs on love? Here’s a possible list (you may disagree):
Coldplay – Swallowed in the Sea Counting Crows – Accidentally In Love John Legend – All of Me Jack Johnson – Better Together Christina Perri – Arms Ed Sheeran – Thinking Out Loud Arctic Monkeys – Do I Wanna Know? John Mayer – XO Elle Goulding – Still Falling For You Sam Smith – Latch Omi - Cheerleader
Take the Counting Crows song, Accidentally in Love….Great song but do we accidentally fall in love? So she said what's the problem baby, What's the problem I don't know, Well maybe I'm in love, Think about it every time, I think about it, Can't stop thinking about it, How much longer will it take to cure this, Just to cure it 'cause I can't ignore it if it's love, Makes me wanna turn around and face me, But I don't know nothing 'bout love…….Belting out sunlight, shimmering love. Well baby I surrender, To the strawberry ice cream, Never ever end of all this love, Well I didn't mean to do it, But there's no escaping your love. These lines of lightning, Mean we're never alone, Accidentally in love, Accidentally in love, Accidentally in love…. Christina Perri, Arms. She’s got it…very honest, we want to be loved but we aren’t sure we will ever find that love. I never thought that you would be the one to hold my heart, But you came around and you knocked me off the ground from the start, You put your arms around me, And I believe that it's easier for you to let me go, You put your arms around me and I'm home, How many times will you let me change my mind and turn around, I can't decide if I'll let you save my life or if I'll drown, Hope that you see right through my walls, I hope that you catch me, 'cause I'm already falling, I'll never let a love get so close, You put your arms around me and I'm home….. Sam Smith, Latch…I won’t let you go. OK. Now I've got you in my space, I won't let go of you, Got you shackled in my embrace, I'm latching on to you...
How would Jesus' song on love go? Listen in. It’s his song to the church of Ephesus in Rev. 2:1-7
Todd
One of my greatest privileges in life is to be the one who introduces my friends to Jesus- Jesus, my Lord and Savior. I’ve been doing it for years. I have never stopped to describe what that’s like, why I really do it, and whether I should or shouldn’t. I have always approached life from an inner core reality that who I am on the inside is what I live on the outside. Telling people about Jesus is not what I do but who I am. It’s rare that someone gets it and the lights go on for them. That’s not up to me. And it’s not forced. I just live my life as though I am no longer living based upon my own agenda, but by one who lives within me, fellowshipping with me, guiding me, influencing my daily decisions. In a world that desperately needs an answer to problems we cannot seem to solve, people need one thing. They need to be what Paul says in II Cor. 5:11-6:2, reconciled to God, in other words, friendship with God. I have discovered a few things that make me a better reconciler in this passage. See you this weekend online, in your home, or in a back yard watching with friends.
Todd
The conversation on racism and ethnic inclusion in America and in the church is not comfortable. It’s a conversation that gets messy. It’s a conversation that can be all-too-easily co-opted or invalidated by various outside agendas to score quick political points. Nevertheless, as I will seek to show from the heart of our own sacred scriptures as followers of Jesus, it is a conversation I (we) can’t sit out. Wherever you are in the moment in which we find ourselves, we hope you join us this week with an open mind and open heart.
James
How do we get our heads around what is going on in our country? Seriously, this is a century of pain compressed in five months. The mishandling of the George Floyd arrest that led to his death has sparked a wave of protest and violence around the country. People are standing with their black friends, neighbors, community members, brothers and sisters to protest the systemic mistreatment of black Americans. I have asked Joseph Hamilton, my friend and fellow pastor and social reformer in the Los Angeles area to have a frank conversation about the events of May 25, 2020 and what the church can do to be an agent of change. Please listen in to our conversation this weekend as we join to worship the Lord and address a critical social issue of today.
Todd
It’s a strange thing to think that a story never ends. Even the best stories come to a finality where the drama concludes either for bad or for good. But it does come to an end. Ever read a really really good book that you just wish it never ended? But they all do. And you're left thinking, "I wonder what happens next in the life of the characters of the story?" But the end comes and we are left feeling incomplete in a way. In recent months we have been faced with the reality that people die every day. That the end of the story for so many are drawing to a sudden conclusion. I cannot tell you a time like this that I have been more aware of death. It haunts us every day. We didn’t ask for it. The media has made sure that we are all well aware of the fact that people are dying all around us. The resurrection of Jesus paints a totally different picture, a radical departure from this morbid obsession with death, with the unjust finality of life. Close the media feeds. Object to this absurd fear based journalism and look at the resurrection story again. In Luke chapter 24 Jesus' life does not come to an end but to a fantastic great new beginning. And he offers it to us.
Let’s see.
Todd
It’s happening! The beach is open for activity, more and more businesses are opening back up, folks are making summer plans, and L.A. traffic is making a comeback. We’re not out of the “safer-at-home” woods yet, but it’s starting to look like the beginning of the end of quarantine. Even as I’ve been chomping at the bit to “get back to normal,” a realization hit me this week—slowly but surely this very difficult and completely unprecedented global quarantining event will be just a strange chapter in the history books. Like you, I will not miss the bizarro world of face masks, social distancing, and zoom meetings all day. But there is one big question with which I’ve been wrestling recently: what did I do with my season of quarantine? How did I use it? How did I invest? This leads me to a bigger “resurrection” kind of question: How am I investing during this relatively short phase of existence I call my life? To put it in financial, stock market terms, am I day-trading on volatile, short-term fad speculations, or am I all-in on resurrection futures? That is, are the things that I pour my affections, efforts, heart, money, and minutes into good investments? Are my life priorities—whether conscious or passive, articulated or taken-for-granted—real? true? beautiful? lasting? In short, am I living my “now” into “forever?” Do the skills I’m acquiring, habits I’m forming, pleasures I’m pursuing, and loves I’m cultivating perish with the now or grow into forever? We’re going to explore this constellation of questions this week. If nothing else, tune in to see how my mustache is coming along.
James
This weekend at the River, wow. Another great service planned for you. Wait till you hear the worship, testimony, and the teaching. I hope you’re enjoying our online services as we continue to stay connected through worship and staying in God’s word. Resurrection life is about recalibrating the loves of your life. We all have deep loves, desires. They drive us. Jesus knew that. That’s why in Matthew chapter 22 Jesus gives us the great commandment- “love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul.” So many competing loves wrestling around in our hearts. We are what we love.
Todd
Disruptions are painful, but they can bring focus to our lives and to what matters. For me, I have been thinking about friendship these days. "Missing my friends" is the phrase I most commonly hear from our high school students. I picked up a book called Friendship by Lydia Denworth on the science of friendship. It is a good read and she highlights the new science showing how destructive loneliness is to our health. Friendship is good contextual soil for us to understand faith and spiritual growth. Our sermon this week will look at three ways the Resurrection changes friendship. With the book of Philippians as our guide, we will see that Jesus' death and resurrection usher in a new way of relating to each other in our friendships.
Matt
I am sure we all have a “storm” story. You were probably out hiking or out on a boat or in the elements when out of nowhere a storm appeared. How did you feel? Did you feel in control? I’ve had many of those experiences. In one particular storm experience I can recall, the lightning was touching down all around us as we were completely exposed on the side of a mountain. Scary. Think of yours. Did you feel like, “I have this”? Where was Jesus in the midst of your storm? I suspect you felt a lot like the disciples in Mark 5: 35-41 who encountered a storm on the way to the other side of the lake. Even with Jesus right by their side, albeit asleep, they became afraid. Jesus will later question them on their faith. Guys, all you needed was a little faith. Let’s look at this passage this weekend. What can we learn about fear vs faith in the midst of a storm? What can we do that could alter how we respond next time?
Todd
Join us as we continue our sustained study of the spiritual supernova that is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This Sunday we’re going to gaze into the enduring, multifaceted, and transformative implications of the resurrection for your otherwise normal, day-to-day life. Specifically, let’s meditate on two questions: 1) What happens/has happened to my individual life because of the resurrection? 2) Practically speaking, how can I live into these resurrection aftereffects in my everyday life? It’s gonna be a blast and I’ve tried to bribe Josh to dub a laugh track into the message so my jokes will land (just kidding…or am I?)!
- James
Easter comes and goes once a year, that is, as an event. But, it actually lingers on all year in our thoughts and our hearts if we really think about it. It’s all about the Resurrection of Jesus. Resurrection means new life. Jesus offers us new life in his death, burial and resurrection, now and forever. So how do we live it? Especially now, in the midst of this cultural angst? We are running the bases of emotions right now aren’t we? Disbelief, panic, fear, anxiety, worry, confusion, discomfort, annoyance, anger, frustration, and now rounding third base, a feeling of distrust. We are all over the map. Collectively we are hurting in all sorts of ways. Resurrection life in Jesus is our only hope. As things and conveniences have been ripped from our grasp, we are all wondering what is going to give us staying power through to the other side. Let’s hold on to the Resurrection. And it starts with celebrating new life. Jesus tells three parables in Luke 15, each about something lost and then found. And in all three parables a party breaks out. Maybe it's time for small celebrations. Athletes have told us for years that the way to the finish line is through celebrating small victories. Counselors will tell us the way through loss and grief is getting through life in 15 minute intervals and celebrating the small victories along the way. New life is worth celebrating. Let’s talk about Resurrection life as a party this weekend.
- Todd
This Easter will be a first for all of us. Every segment of this service is from our homes to yours. We are truly living as first century Christians, huddled In our homes celebrating the Easter morning as family and friends. Jesus has risen. He brings hope even if things look or appear hopeless. With Jesus it is far from it. I was feeling pretty stressed about filming myself preaching the Easter message this year at my home yesterday. It didn't go as planned. To be honest, I spent five hours trying to make it through a 20 minute message without messing up. I almost gave up. That's an honest truth. The evil one was literally pummeling me for five hours telling me how terrible The message is and I should give up. I persevered and here we go. This morning I got up and decided to turn on some praise music and walk. Randomly, a particular song came on. It's Entitled Living Hope. Have you heard it? I was so blown away by the lyrics and how well they match the message of hope from John 20 that I texted Jasmine and asked her if she would consider playing that song at the end of the service. I knew she had already recorded and planned out the worship so I was half expecting, "sorry, we don't have room for that song". To my surprise, she texted and said, "The worship has all been recorded and set to go, but you will happy to know that Living Hope is actually the last song of the service". She had planned that over a week or two ago. On my Walk I was overcome by emotion and teared up. I was feeling really discouraged and God showed up and reminded me he's got everything under control. He always does.
-Todd
I have to say, none of us were totally prepared for this worldwide pandemic. Do any of us have everything we need professionally, emotionally, spiritually, and practically? Every day changes. Now, more than ever, we have to prepare our mind, as we attempt to walk with peace and courage.
Daniel's life was threatened, fear beckoned him, his faith was challenged. His security and protection came from a regular time in prayer and security in his God.
His daily practice prepared him for the big challenges.
One author says, "God's chariots and horses are all around us providing the way to glorious victory." We just have to prepare ourselves and open our eyes!
-Denise
Times have really changed. I've preached the message before the blurb goes out! Ha! Crazy world we live in. We filmed our service today. It's a good one. This week we'll hear the message Sunday at 9am in our living rooms, our new church outposts.
We are looking at Daniel 3, the three tests of true biblical faith. Daniel along with the rest of many other young Israelites found themselves in a different world that now required them to worship a gold image, an idol that King Nebuchadnezzar (not n the spelling bee) had erected, visible for all to see. Idols stand out. Don't they? And they test our loyalty; what is truly worth believing in.
You can put your faith in just about anything, a new job, a relationship, yourself, something you rely on to give you a sense of worth, an object of pleasure. It's what you worship, that you believe in. But will it bring you happiness? Unless that thing is something that will last, it will let you down. That's why what you put your faith in is important. Faith must pass these three tests to be true biblical faith, the kind of faith the young men of Israel had. - Todd
This week at the River Online, we will worship the Lord, hear a testimony and open God's word together. We are in the book of Daniel studying how Daniel handled the pressure when his world got turned upside down. What do you do when everything normal becomes abnormal? We have all been faced with tremendous change. Weddings have been cancelled. People have been let off work. School is over. Graduations are in the air. People face the real and potential danger of this terrible virus that has spread across the world. This is a world turned upside down. What is the Christian's response? Let Daniel be our guide. See you Sunday as we dive into chapter 2 of Daniel. The king of Babylon has a troubling dream and Daniel is the only one who can interpret it. And the interpretation is one of hope and a secure future for those that worship Daniel's God. - Todd
People and crisis will invariably bring out the worst of you or the best of you depending on your emotional health. What leaks out are emotions somewhere on the spectrum caused by jumping into the chasm of relational messiness. What do we do with these emotions? Is it OK for Christians to have emotions? Which ones? In John 11 Jesus enters into an emotional firestorm. He does not come out unscathed. He gets emotionally burned along with his friends. So I wonder if the gospel writer is telling us something about real life that we often miss when we are emotionally closed up inside. If Jesus experienced emotions, shouldn't we? For what purpose? Enjoying people is messy. People are messy. We are messy. Yet when the fire dies down new life emerges. Todd
In the last few weeks, we've been leaning into a fundamental element of the River Church and, for that matter, of human flourishing-enjoying relationships. In a constellation of messages, we've eagerly reminded ourselves that part of our core design as a species is to live full lives beautifully-immersed in healthy community. We've made our case with a blessed avalanche of biblical, theological, historical, logical, and anecdotal reasons that you and I should venture into rich relationships with God and others.
There is one question, however, that withstands any number of these intellectual and theological arguments: What if I get hurt? This very honest and quite natural hesitation can over time grow into an unbreachable firewall holding us back from living in freedom, joy, and authenticity in our relationships.
This Sunday let's watch Jesus for direction through this potentially-crippling relational roadblock.
James
What I witnessed last Sunday when we were all together, well I just want more of that. I saw people joining together to pray for others they don’t even know who need our prayers. We have people in our community that need us to pray for a miracle. We have many who need our support. We have global issues that need our concentrated prayer. It’s our duty. It’s what the church does or should do well. Then I saw individuals standing up for God and telling a story of God’s faithfulness in their lives. They broke through the fear of speaking in public and just went for it. We all have a story that needs to be told. To hear another’s story boosts our faith. It underscores why we need to assemble together (Heb. 24-25). We all come to church with baggage from the past. Maybe we have been hurt by a rogue view of what church should be like or a message or style that just doesn’t jive with Scripture. But Jesus said in Matthew 16:18, “I will build my church.” What we are attempting to do in the middle of our Enjoy People series is give us a clear understanding from Scripture what the church should be and look like. Churches may look different in 2020 from what they looked like in the 80’s or 90’s. But they will continue to exist and play a profound role, a primary role, in our spiritual development and our mission in the world. So, let’s take another run at this topic again this weekend. Good? If you would, re read Ephesians 2:11-22 the primary passage on the church in the New Testament.
Todd
Let's talk about the church a minute. As flawed and filled with imperfect people as it is, (or even led by a pastor you don't like or respect) the church is the only institution on the planet that has been God ordained to bring Christ followers together for a common cause. Do you believe that? Maybe you do. Maybe you don't because you have been hurt by someone in the church. Maybe a leader or pastor didn't fulfill your expectations. Maybe you have outgrown your need for it. Maybe you grew up in a pastor's home. Ugh. Maybe you have been so badly hurt, you promised yourself you'll never do that again. I'll do my own thing now. Maybe you have found something else or have just given up completely on it. In over 30 years of church ministry, I have experienced personally the pain and hardship of the church. I have been hurt by pastors/supervisors, been taught some really awful stuff, been mistreated (unjustly fired), and have wondered what good is the church. But my hurt and pain will never overpower what Paul says about the church in Ephesians 2:11-22. Christ breaks down the dividing walls between people, rips to shreds animosity and hostility, heals wounds, AND unites all believers (not just your friends) into one to make us better and stronger together. We all want to be better and stronger. You just thought you could do that on your own. Oh, and by the way, have you seen all the research on why it is healthier to be associated with a loving caring group of people?
Todd
Thursday night was one of my favorite evenings all year. The Peninsula high school and Palos Verdes high school basketball teams squared off in their rival basketball games. In a packed house of rowdy students, parents, teachers, administrators, and youth pastors, both teams competed for pride and "hill dominance." Perhaps one of my favorite moments came after the boy's game, which saw the Panthers beat the Sea Kings 66-60. Shortly after the students left with their respective schools one PV cheerleader ran up to her friends from Pen high and enthusiastically greeted them with a warm hug. This struck me as something significant. She was living into the great commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves. Even after a tough lost, she was able to keep a school rivalry in perspective and embrace her friends. She did not allow competition to prevent her from the greater gift of connecting with others.
Last week we learned from James that the purpose of life is to love God and love each other. This Sunday we will continue that conversation to discuss how we are to love each other even when we are uniquely different. We will explore how we are called to be people who seek to understand one another, and in doing so, we are able live life the way God intended us to live.
Matt
This Sunday marks the 13th anniversary of the River Church! To celebrate we're starting a brand-new series. To start the series I'm asking a very not-new question: "What is the meaning of life?" Let's launch this promising new decade with an inspired and inspiring ancient answer!
James
We can look at the world today and say, "What a mess it's in" or we can say, "God what is our role in all this?" Romans 8:14-28 is the perfect spot to be enlightened and challenged to play a role in the final redemptive plan of God for the whole of creation. You've heard the expression, "It's all going to hell in a hand basket." Is it? Ultimately it is not. Sufferings and groanings may last the night as the Psalmist says, but in the morning.....Actually, it says in Psalm 30:5, "Weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning." God is at work and one day will make all things right again. What's out role in all this? In Garden City, John Comer says, "we were put on this earth-because the entire cosmos is this God's temple-to make visible God. (We were created as these little "selems" ,Hebrew for idols or images of God) to show the world what God is like. We are the Creator's representatives to his creation." Paul says in Romans 8:19 that the world is longing, groaning for relief, for renewal, for redemption. What is implied in the passage is that we play a part in that now!
Todd
When I was at college, a group of us used to share our faith with a yellow booklet called the four spiritual laws. Yep, that's what I did at college besides classes and rugby practice. It was a little book to help a believer lead someone to Christ. if that person indicated they already had received Christ, we'd share a blue booklet, "Have You Made the Wonderful Discovery of the Spirit Filled Life?" I love it, a booklet for any response. OK, This one always intrigued me. I ran into so many that had been exposed to the gospel of Christ and had made an indication of faith at some point in their life but never knew what it meant to live in the power of the Holy Spirit. The way I saw it was that Christians were living below their means. Any financial advisor will tell you (I have one for a son in law) that it is financially inadvisable for you to live above your means. But that does not apply to our faith. Many of us are living way below our potential, our means, as it were. You were given so much more. Welcome Holy Spirit. For those of you who want a short synopsis, stop here and we'll see you Sunday. For those intrigued, keep reading. Some how, our Western theology has made it all about Jesus and what Jesus has done for us, for me, a privatized view of salvation just for me. We've missed an important discovery. He doesn't work alone. The Holy Spirit is God as much as the Father is God and Jesus is God. As the Father gives new life, the Son lovingly sacrifices his life so we may have new life, the Spirit empowers us to live this new life, here, now. I want to clear up one big misnomer about the Christian life and get us back on track. What we have been given in Christ is new life now, not later. Our job is learning how to steward it.
Todd
2020 is now well under way, and if you are like me, you have probably experienced both hopeful optimism for the future, yet also the familiar reality that you dragged your former 2019 self into the new year and decade. How does change actually happen? Better, how does spiritual transformation take root in the depths of our soul, renewing our minds, and forming new healthy habits? I’ve been pouring over the Scriptures, consulting my heroes of faith, and agonizing over my own sluggish ways, looking for help. There is insightful wisdom in Ephesians 4:17-24 which will serve as the core of a [mostly one-way] conversation I want to engage with you this Sunday.
Bill
Shame. That life-choking reality taking so many hideous forms. It’s a phycological prison, a social poison, a spiritual infection. It insists that we hide. Hide from God; from those closest to us; from ourselves. It traps us in our past and blinds us to our future. But what if you could be free of its stench in 2020? What if in the next chapter of your life you could live more shame-free than you’ve ever dreamed possible? Join us on the beach on December 29th for a stand-alone sermon in which we will open John’s Gospel and watch Jesus powerfully free three individuals desperately imprisoned in shame. Let’s dare to imagine a shame-free 2020.
James
Do you remember the story of the Count of Monte Cristo? A young man, falsely imprisoned by his jealous friend, escapes and uses a hidden treasure to exact his revenge? Dantes and Fernand were best of friends. Whenever one would act in a heroic way or win the upper hand, the other would throw the king piece of a chess board to the other and say, "Kings to you" while the other says, "Kings to me". This probably went on their whole life until...Until human greed and jealousy and all the rest of the ugly stuff of un-kingly like behavior got to one of them. Fernand double-crossed his friend Dantes. Dantes spent years in prison planning an escape and revenge. Neither of them acted like kings to me. So what should a king be like? Isaiah gives us a picture of a king who is coming that will be unlike all finite human kings. Isaiah has prophesied that this One is coming as a child, in human form so that he can, for a brief moment in time, relate to us and so we can relate to him. As Dorothy Sayers said, he understands us because, "He took his own medicine". Isaiah also says, this One is also the shoot, the tender green shoot that grows out of a disaster, the felling of an entire forest. He is hopefulness to a fallen hopeless world. Now we find in Isaiah 42 and in 49, he is a king like no other. He does not exact revenge. This king is different. It's the kind of king we can desperately need. It's the kind of king we all want to be like. This Christmas, believe that God has sent this king for you.
Todd
"Hopefully." It's one of the most misused terms in our English vocabulary. For those betting on God's faithfulness in the dark forests, rocky trials, and plummeting cliffs of life, this modifier captures our audacious posture of heart. Join us this Sunday as we gather, sing Christmas carols, and open Isaiah 11 to celebrate afresh the reason why this adverb is truly ours this season. Hopefully we'll make it through this Christmas. James
New research on mental health and the church indicates one of the main causes of depression and anxiety is lack of hope. When we have no hope in something that is more powerful than our current existential angst, we become fearful, depressed, anxious. This Christmas season. It's supposed to be the season of joy. It's the season of being close with family and friends. Yet what I often personally experience and observe is an undercurrent of angst. We want something deeper but we don't have it. We search for it in all the glitter but it's something that shines brighter than glitter. It's the source of our joy. It's the answer to our question, where is our hope? Jesus our King is our new holiday series that will run through December, exploring the Old Testament Isaiah prophecies concerning the coming of a new king, King Jesus. In the midst of war and uncertainty, king pitted against king, kingdom against kingdom, God gave the people of Israel the answer to their angst - a hope of a king who will restore justice, end wars, unite, love. A king like no other king. We often think that our faith starts with Jesus birth. It began thousands of years before that. Hope will arise as we see Jesus in the Old Testament and learn why God's plan was that he was to be born a child on this earth.
Todd
You're only young once. When you hear those words, what do you think of? Live it up. Right? Go for it! Make the most of your youthfulness. Get what you can out of life. Travel the world. Come skydiving with us. Let's go cave diving. Peter was a young man. He had the rest of his life ahead of him when he met the Resurrected Lord in John 21. He could have gone back to his fishing business. He could have written a book on his experiences with Jesus. What a book that would have been. But, Jesus shows up on the shore of his life and calls him in. "Peter, what are you going to do with the rest of your life?", Jesus asks. "You know I love you Lord," Peter said. "Well then, let's get started." And that's where it all begins.
Todd
What if this weekend you came to one of the River worship gatherings only to discover that this Sunday's main teacher is Jesus?! That's right, what if Jesus of Nazareth himself is speaking at the River Church? It's not the second coming, but sort of like the first-and-a-half coming. On what topic would you want him to teach? Think about it. You could have Jesus's perspective on anything this Sunday. What would it be? Well, that we know of, Jesus is not preaching this weekend. Nevertheless, we are going to open up the Gospels, sit at Jesus's feet, and behold Jesus conversing on his absolutely, hands down, without comparison all-time favorite teaching topic. As it turns out, not only is Jesus going to be teaching on his favorite teaching topic, but he's going to be inviting you to consider, "What's your favorite?" (As I write this, all I hear in my head is Buddy the Elf saying "I like to smile. Smiling's my favorite!") This Sunday, let's ponder infatuation, in love, in conversation with Jesus!
James
After scaling the fifty-foot rock face in Joshua Tree, I had to get back down. My guide up top instructed me to step back and lean perpendicular to the rock face, trusting my future to the climbing rope and my 15-year-old belayer. The coaching, the safety of the belay, and the inspiring shouts of encouragement from the crowd below made the journey up and down a thrill and super satisfying.
This is the life of the disciple, learning confidence and trust by putting our weight down on Jesus. Faith is as much a verb as it is a noun—we might call it faithing in Jesus. Like the rock-climbing adventurer, we don’t scale alone. We need others along the way. We need our faith-community—or should we say, our faithing-community. Healthy faith-communities support our intention to trust Jesus with our life. The conversation between Jesus and a man born blind will show us how this works, and how central to loving God is trusting Jesus. Read John 9 and ask yourself which part of his faith-community would you want on the end of your belay.
Bill
What could Jesus do that is so scandalous, so wrought with the possibility of being misinterpreted that the gospel writers would be hesitant to include it in the gospel narratives? Oh, I don't know. How about John 7:53-8:11? It's the passage where Jesus tells the Pharisees who have brought a woman caught in adultery, "He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." That'll close out a perfectly good cocktail party. Who wants the finger pointed at them? "Ease up Jesus, all we were trying to do is condemn this blatant sinful woman and we mean blatant. Leave us out of it!" It's far easier to point your finger at someone else rather than yourself. Yet Jesus is making a point to all, and I mean all, as He looks at this publicly shamed woman and says, "Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more." Ah, the words of scandalous love. What a shame we often fall short of that kind of love. I have been challenged this week to stop acting like a Pharisee and more like Jesus, but only when I truly understand how to receive this kind of scandalous Love from Jesus himself. "We love because he first loved us" rings in my ear.
Todd
Distracted? Disconnected? Discouraged? Experiencing any of these? The three D’s of a broken relationship. It happens to the best of us, to even the best marriages, the best of friends, the best of partnerships. Life happens. Things go awry. How do we go back to the way it was at the beginning? Remember when...? Remember that commitment, that vitality, that love, that respect, that honor you once had? Jesus once said, “you lost your first love.” How do we get it back? How do we keep it alive? Learn…. to…. abide.... In John 15, Jesus has a conversation with his disciples and reveals to them how to keep their newly established relationship with Him alive. Be careful of the three D’s. They will turn a fruitful relationship into a branch full of dried up lifeless raisins. You must learn the secret of abiding. Todd
The greatest command is to love God, with all our heart, and our soul, and our mind. I'll be honest ... sometimes I bottle up this impulse inside my head, turning love of God into an idea easily evaporating into private feelings. I need a guide, someone tangible who can show me, even apprentice me into what love looks like with skin on. This weekend, we continue our Conversations with Jesus series, exploring what it means to really love God. Loving God is central to all we are about at The River. We are taking the Sundays from now to Thanksgiving to dive deep into this core value: Love God. This Sunday, we'll look at a conversation Jesus had with his disciples, where he pressed them to articulate their understanding of his identity and mission. The teaching is helping me see the connection between loving God and following Jesus. Here is the sermon in a sentence: The path to loving God travels through the door of allegiance to Jesus; allegiance to Jesus travels the way of the cross.
Bill
The highly anticipated fall series has arrived: Conversations with Jesus. This is no insta pot recipe. We've been stewing this one for a long time. Remember Walter Cronkite - CBS anchor man who was legendary for his human interest pieces and signing off with "And that's the way it is"? Google him. He was known as the most trusted man in America. What he said stuck. That's Jesus. What he said stuck with people and was passed down from generation to generation. Jesus was provocative. He engaged people conversationally and provoked change. So what did Jesus converse about that was so "And that's the way it is"? Love God, Enjoy People, Play Your Part, and Share His Story. That about sums it up. We're going to start by looking at what Jesus said about Loving God. Let's start with the Greatest Commandment from Matthew 22:34-40 and the three ways we can love God.
Todd
Ever preached a sermon and as soon as you finished realized, Oh my, there's more to that than I thought? Of course not. You're not a preacher. What am I thinking? I have. Just the other week. I'm seriously thinking of re-preaching my last message- Thoughts on a Garden, a well, and a Table, from Genesis 1-2, John 4, and Matthew 9. It's a new way of looking at the church. I think God was speaking to us through this message. The message was about forming a fresh new vision for The River. What we learned is we are culture creators. We can't change the culture that is, but we can create a uniquely different culture. That's our garden mandate. We grow, then we water, and finally we sit and eat together the fruit of our labor. Food soothes the soul. It brings people together. As I said a few weeks ago, this is farm to table church theology. It is my prediction that the church in the future will be more culturally relevant and integrated when it learns to do church around a table instead of a row of chairs. I am serious about that. Would you go online and listen to that message? It will help you understand the message this weekend, Part II. It all starts with a calling. We all get one. Not just Moses (Exodus 3-4). We all get called. It's our voice - Vocatio. It's a summons, a calling, a vocation. It's what God calls YOU to do. How Moses is called is extraordinary. I'll show you.
Todd
When doing for Jesus eclipses being with Jesus, we have a problem called religion; Jesus wants to reveal it and call us back to relationship with him.
This is a game changer.
Karl Martin
I love trees. On one of our first dates, Cynthia and I spent it talking and enjoying an evening up in a tall tree on the campus of U. C. Davis. I knew that if a girl could climb a tree better than me, and wanted to share laughter from the top branches, it might be smart on my part to pursue her more. We still like climbing trees. God loves trees too, and uses them to teach me all kinds of life-shaping practices. This Sunday, I plan to talk about three important lessons I have learned from listening to the trees. My message title is, "The Trees Are Speaking." I am trying to follow what Jesus urged, "the one who has ears, let them really hear. But don't just hear, put your hearing to work and practice what I say." The trees are speaking; are we listening?
Bill
It's something Tom Nelson said that has stuck with me, pulled at me, challenged me, and changed the way I think. "In the church, we often spend the majority of our time teaching people how to live the minority of their lives." What does he mean and why is that even significant? I think it gets at what we do most of our days. What do we do? We work, we spend time with family and friends, we fix things, we shop, we exercise, we have meals, prepare meals, clean up after meals (most of the time).....And the minority of our time? We go to a church service, we study our bibles, pray, serve those in need. See what he's getting at? What does God say about the majority of our lives? Obviously all of it is important. And why do we even separate out these two as if they are not related to each other? So here's what I want to do. Let's get a more comprehensive understanding of life from God's perspective. I want to suggest that you are a not just a consumer, not just a good church attender, a Christian, a husband, wife, parent, worker or friend. You are a shaper of culture. And it all comes from the garden, way back when. As we begin our fall season, here's the first of a series of messages to get us thinking about what God has for us as a church and a follower of Christ as we think about our next season of life at the River.
Todd
Our 21st century U.S. historical moment serenades us with two unmistakable songs. One is named "Division," and the other, "Superficial Spectacle." These songs have been playing on repeat in human communities for millennia, but in the last decade a confluence of complicated and not-so-complicated realities have colluded to crank up the volume. Today we hear their chorus echoing in everything from our entertainment, politics, and journalism to our education, communication, and consumption. On the one hand, their malignant melodies enlist us to "Fight for your team!", "Vindicate your position!", and always and everywhere "Protect you and yours!" On the other hand, they insist that we keep up appearances, scratch for the spotlight, and whenever possible, "catch ourselves doing something good (preferably in a selfie)." As we sway and stagger to the beat of these life-wrecking refrains, Paul's ancient letter to the Corinthians surprises us with something fresh. Join us this Sunday as we close our study of 1 Corinthians by soaking in a pair of vintage Pauline priorities. Vintage priorities that, I believe, sing a new, refreshing, and transformative song.
James
Have you ever thought about what happens and where you go after you die? If you've buried a loved one you probably have. Older people do; youngsters often don't bother. The popular belief includes: death is a wrap, done, end of you; or a kind of ethereal disembodied eternity in a faraway heaven up there. Stephen Colbert quipped he was planning on "a harp, a mint Julep, and asking Ronald Reagan questions." The Bible tells a different story, and it is beautiful. This Sunday, we will attempt to disentangle ourselves from popular assumptions and let the apostle Paul's letter to the muddled Corinthians, included in our sacred Scriptures, provide signposts in the mist toward our glorious future. Take some time to read 1 Corinthians 15 and let your imagination soar a bit.
Bill
"Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die"
Do you know this quote?
George and I were in Las Vegas this weekend for a wedding and that was the messaging all around us. "LIVE IT UP! Don't give any thought to tomorrow-what do you want RIGHT NOW? What do you feel like IN THIS MOMENT? Let's eat and drink for tomorrow we DIE!"
Believe it or not, this is a quote from the passage we're going to be studying this weekend, and no, it's not Ecclesiastes! It's straight out of 1 Corinthians chapter 15. So why would Paul say this? It doesn't sound much like what we are told the Christian life is supposed to be.
That's because it's NOT! Paul gives so much weight to ONE event that took place in history that he says, if this event did NOT HAPPEN then...
1) Our faith is WORTHLESS and in vain
2) We are testifying AGAINST God
3) We are to be pitied
And.......4) We should eat and drink for tomorrow we die!
So what is this one event? Why does it matter SO MUCH? And most importantly, if this one, critical event is true how should it inform the way we live our lives? Let's talk about it!
Brooke
Go for broke! Terrible advice in personal finance, exactly the point of 1 Corinthians 11-14. Denise (one of my ministry and life heroes) absolutely nailed it two weeks ago in her sermon on love in 1 Cor. 13. In it, she reminded us of a C.S. Lewis quote that I can't stop thinking about: "Nothing you have not given away will ever really be yours." It sounds so contradictory, so paradoxical, and for any of us who have tried the tight-fisted, self-interested route to happiness, so true! This Sunday let's gather around this inspired and inspiring portion of Paul's ancient letter to a beautifully broken community in Roman Corinth. Let's reflect together on the who, what, why, and how of going for broke!
-James
It's wedding season and this weekend I get to attend the wedding of a dear couple from our River community! Weddings bring out all the "feels" for me. The beautiful couple standing up in front, surrounded by people they love, dreaming about a life full of love and happiness.
This Sunday we are going to look at I Corinthians 13, traditionally known as the LOVE chapter, often read at weddings describing perfect love. Love is kind, patient, does not boast, love does not envy, etc.
Paul describes love and how it involves all of us. It's way beyond just a wedding. He says if we don't have love for one another, we have nothing. What does he mean? How hard can it be to love one another? He defines love and the necessity for it to be the foundation for everything else to flourish. It means everything.
Loving each other doesn't always bring "the feels" and sometimes can be very challenging. How do we do it? What happens when we don't "feel" like loving one another? Jesus is our example.
Denise
I was hanging with a group of guys that meet on Friday mornings for a little connection time and a short reflection on God's word. We have several of these kinds of groups and need more to be started. Back to my point. We were talking about accountability for men. My first thought was about my message this weekend from I Cor. 12 - Spiritual Gifts. I thought, oh my, how many things are we missing out on like accountability, like the use of spiritual gifts if we don't have a church home? I wondered, what if you are not connected to a local gathering of believers. How does any of this stuff work? Accountability? Sure you can develop that outside the church. Gifts? Sure you can use those outside the church. However, Paul seems to be saying, the primary purpose of Spiritual Gifts is for building up the local church body. If you are not a part of one, you are missing out. You miss out. We miss out. So many these days, due to a radical individualism that has swept America ever since John Kourac wrote On the Road and James Dean's movie came out, have opted for independence. An on the road kind of lifestyle rather than a biblical interdependence. As one commentator said, apart from salvation, the next most important component of church life is the use of our spiritual gifts. Wow. We better get on it.
Todd
If only we could go back and redo some things.... key words- "some things". Yeah, some times I cringe at the poor choices of my past. However, I also could have avoided some of them had I simply learned from the mistakes of others before me. Now, the best thing I can do is grow from my mistakes and others and ask the lord to help me respond differently when faced with the situation in the future. Come hear Sunday how the church at Corrinth loaked up (was destroying fellowship) as a result of their selfishness but now permit us to learn from their mistakes.
Jazz
During his sermon on 1 Corinthians 8 a few weeks ago, Todd mentioned 'planned obsolescence'. What is this, you ask? According to a 2009 article in The Economist, "Planned obsolescence is a business strategy in which the obsolescence (the process of becoming obsolete-that is, unfashionable or no longer usable) of a product is planned and built into it from its conception. This is done so that in the future the consumer feels a need to purchase new products and services that the manufacturer brings out as replacements for the old ones." Pope Francis calls this the "throwaway culture." Todd named this an idol of our materialistic age. In 1 Corinthians 10 we are again warned about idolatry of this kind. How many cell phones have you had in the past ten years (since this article was written)? Isn't it about time for a new car? Did you know that car seats have expiration dates? It's about safety right? Or security - the iPhone did not even have biometric authentication ten years ago... Technology is not bad - without it you would not be reading this. But are we tempted to treat these temporary things as idols (false gods)? A simpler question: are you using the device, or is it using you? Trust this: God is faithful and supplies a way out of any temptation (1 Cor. 10:13). We are invited this Sunday to share in the one God who is truly worthy of worship, the true Lord of Heaven and Earth and everything in it, the glorious King who took our brokenness upon himself and made something truly beautiful. Tommy
During his sermon on 1 Corinthians 8 a few weeks ago, Todd mentioned 'planned obsolescence'. What is this, you ask? According to a 2009 article in The Economist, "Planned obsolescence is a business strategy in which the obsolescence (the process of becoming obsolete-that is, unfashionable or no longer usable) of a product is planned and built into it from its conception. This is done so that in the future the consumer feels a need to purchase new products and services that the manufacturer brings out as replacements for the old ones." Pope Francis calls this the "throwaway culture." Todd named this an idol of our materialistic age. In 1 Corinthians 10 we are again warned about idolatry of this kind. How many cell phones have you had in the past ten years (since this article was written)? Isn't it about time for a new car? Did you know that car seats have expiration dates? It's about safety right? Or security - the iPhone did not even have biometric authentication ten years ago... Technology is not bad - without it you would not be reading this. But are we tempted to treat these temporary things as idols (false gods)? A simpler question: are you using the device, or is it using you? Trust this: God is faithful and supplies a way out of any temptation (1 Cor. 10:13). We are invited this Sunday to share in the one God who is truly worthy of worship, the true Lord of Heaven and Earth and everything in it, the glorious King who took our brokenness upon himself and made something truly beautiful. Tommy
This has been a horrific week for our church family and community. So much pain and hardship. Life altering events. How do we, as the church family in the South Bay, respond? What can we do for those who have and are suffering greatly? How far should we go to help those suffering greatly? Paul says in I Cor. 9:19-27 that he was willing to go all the way. All the way. Care without limits. This message this week is time sensitive and instructive in learning how we enter in to another's pain for the sake of the gospel.
Todd
One of my favorite movie scenes is from Rudy, the story that documents the dream of a boy to play football for Notre Dame. The scene comes right after Rudy, the main character, did not make the dress roster for the final game of the season thus failing to achieve his dream of getting to play for the Fighting Irish. The scene unfolds as the team captain walks into the head coach's office and lays his jersey on the coach's desk so Rudy can play in his place. The coach resists the offer and tells his team captain to "act like a captain." To which the team captain says, "I believe I am" and walks out of the office with his jersey on the coach's desk.
I cry every time I see this scene. I am moved by the courage of the team captain to allow love to compel him in his action of giving up his spot on the field for Rudy. He model's Christ-like leadership and lives into something so much greater than his own success on the field or a win for his team.
As we will see this Sunday in 1 Corinthians 9:1-18, the Apostle Paul makes a similar move. He chooses to not take payment from the wealthy Corinthians for his work as an apostle, choosing instead to work as a laborer. This move agitates the Corinthians and they respond by questioning Paul's very apostleship. But Paul saw something the Corinthians did not see. His eyes were on the integrity of the gospel and he was willing to do anything to keep the gospel front and center. This Sunday we will be encouraged and inspired by the Apostle Paul to live full lives, fully for the gospel.
Matt
I heard a story this week about a Christian man, Mark Uptain, father of 5 and husband who last September led a guided elk hunt. His hunter/client shot an elk. The next day they returned for the elk to clean it and prepare the meat and trophy for transport on horses. That's when two grizzly bears appeared out of the covering charging with full force. Mark had a choice. Run for his life or lead the grizzlies away from his client saving at least one of them. He did the latter and was killed. He sacrificially gave his life for another. I know no more profound story of that kind of sacrificial love than the story of Jesus. As we approach our text for this weekend, I Corinthians 8, we are talking about what it looks like as a believer of Jesus to choose love for the sake of someone else. There are certain situations where we are free to take care of our own needs, to run, to protect our own interests. The Apostle Paul called the church to a higher calling of love. It's a freedom that is demonstrated in love.
Todd
It is difficult to underestimate the enormous influence that Disney Princess films have had in shaping our imaginations and longings for marriage in our current culture. Ultimate fulfillment and meaning are typically portrayed in finding the love of one's life and living happily ever after. As a result, we often struggle to make sense of the adult single life, without adding pressure and expectation that marriage is a necessary end-goal. We in the church need to open up honest conversations about the reality of marriage, singleness, and our sexuality, allowing the Holy Spirit and the Holy Scriptures to challenge our assimilated cultural narratives. The apostle Paul does just that in 1 Corinthians 7, and this Sunday we will wrestle out some of his insight as we focus on the beautiful possibilities of the single life in our contemporary moment.
Bill
Church is a family. A family is made up of parents, kids, grandparents, pet dogs, rats, and chinchillas, stray cats, aunts and uncles, and long lost relatives. The church is a lot like a family. You don't get to pick who's in it. And that can be exciting and it can also be a real challenge. I always felt bad for a distant relative that always seemed lost to the rest of our family. Maybe due to life circumstances, they were pushed to the outer banks of the family. I'm not sure what actually happened. I was too young to know the real story but it broke my heart. I remember secretly wishing this distant relative and their family could have what we had. But that was never going to happen for lots of reasons. Now to the church. There are no strays, no outsiders, and no more advantageous roles to play in the church. Where you are in life is as Paul said, a good place to be. In I Cor. 7, he says over and over again, "remain as you are." If you are married, focus on that. If you are single, that's just as valuable. If you are widowed, you play a role too. You don't have to play another role other than the one God has given you right now. Your status doesn't change the fact that God values you as part of His family.
Todd
Looking back over my life, now 58, I would never have imagined all the downright difficulty life would bring. In High School, I never thought life could be so challenging. So here's what I have learned. Darkness has become my friend. I don't look forward to it. I don't invite it. But at times, I live in it. And in it God is most clearly visible. Gregory of Nyssa was a bishop in Cappadocia (Modern day Turkey) in the 300's. He wrote about Moses. He believed Moses' cloud (darkness) was a cipher for the spiritual life - a code, a mystery that needs to be solved. He said, in darkness one sees the opaque splendor of God. Opaque splendor seems to be an oxymoron. How can something you can't see through have splendor? That's the mystery of God. God does His deepest and most profound work in our darkness. That's why Isaiah says in chapter 50:4-11, our passage for this weekend, "Who is among you that fears the Lord, that obeys the voice of His servant, that walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God." Learn the spiritual mystery of darkness.
Todd
Remember when you were little and afraid of the dark? It's ok to admit you were convinced of monsters under your bed and boogey-men in your closet. Petrified and unable to move or sleep you called out for help. The mere presence of a parent or older sibling lying next to you on your bed brought calm and assurance of companionship. Even with the lights out, the monsters seemed manageable.
Though a mystery, God leads us into the darkness and speaks words of deep truth during the night when the lights are turned out. No one can walk this road for us, but a few friends can join us on the journey. We are learning to walk with God in the darkness, and this weekend we will consider how others can help us along the way. Consider Galatians 6:2 "Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ." What does it look like to "carry each other's burdens" in a way that helps rather than hurts?
Bill
Ready for another dousing of darkness? This weekend I plan to bring Part II of a message I started last weekend entitled, "Getting Comforatble with Darkness" from the life of Moses. Moses met God on Mt. Sinai in darkness. Several things from his life and experience parallel our lives as Christ followers. For one, it’s often confusing why we have to go through darkness to find God. For another, it seems odd that God would envelop himself in darkness. Why all the secrecy? How about the length of time we have to remain in darkness until God finally shows up? As Moses came to learn, I too am learning that darkness plays a useful part in my spiritual development. There is something there for me in my darkness. I wonder if that’s why Theodore Roethke, an American poet once wrote, “In a dark time, the eye begins to see” and why the Psalmist writes, Darkness is my closest friend.” I am learning that faith requires us to see in the dark, when everything is not clearly lit before us. It’s a place where we must take another step and not know exactly know what the outcome will be. Our eyes begin to adjust, our heart stops racing, we focus less on the darkness around us and more on a presence around us. Todd
I hope you are not afraid of the dark because we are going to be talking about darkness for the next several weeks in our new series: Walking With God In The Dark. The subtitle of the series is, Just because the lights are out doesn’t mean God is not present or something like that. Every single one of us will go through a period of darkness at some point in our lives. When I was in High School, I battled my self identity. In college, it was relationships. When I got married, it was how to quit being so selfish. While raising our family, it was how to provide. Now as I enter a new phase in my life, it’s how to stay alive. It’s always something isn’t it? Our problem, as Miriam Greenspan once said in "Healing Through the Dark Emotions" is that we have a low tolerance for sadness. Wow. That’s profound. We Christians want to live in the light of God’s blessings and avoid darkness at all cost. However, what I have been learning is that God wants to meet me in the dark. I guess I have to start taking some walks in my own dark. One last quote by Jacques Lusseyron, a french author and political activist who became totally blind at the age of 7 said, “The problem with seeing the regular way is that sight naturally prefers outer appearances.” I want to look more deeper than that. God has more for us if we care to stand the dark. Todd
Christians: You've seen them on TV (think Ned Flanders or Angela from 'The Office'), you've heard about them in politics (not going there!), and you've probably got a few of them in your life (hence why you're at church today). Join us this Sunday for a special message: "What a Christian Isn't." If you are curious about Christianity or have been a follower of Jesus for decades, join us as we squash a few myths and unpack a few transformational truths!
James
April 19 Good Friday Service - Stations of the Cross by The River Church of the South Bay
Hi friends, Brooke Andrews here. I want to take you back to 2008 to give you a glimpse into the heart and vision of our guest speaker, a friend of mine. In 2008, Kevin Palau, the president of the Luis Palau Association (LPA), reached out to Sam Adams, one of the first openly gay mayors in the United States. Kevin showed up to ask how LPA might come alongside Sam to address critical needs in the community. Although Sam and his administration were skeptical and couldn't quite figure out why "a group of Christians would want to associate themselves with someone with whom they disagreed so vigorously on issues like same-sex marriage and abortion," they agreed to work together because they were both desperate. Kevin describes that, on behalf of the evangelical community in Portland, he was desperate to change the perception of the church in one of the most politically progressive and unchurched cities in the country in order to make progress for the gospel, and he knew he needed to start with relationships. As Kevin and Sam's relationship grew and trust was established, Palau mobilized thousands of churches to get involved with hunger, homelessness, healthcare, the environment, the public school system, foster care, and trafficking in Portland. For Palau, spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ was always the ultimate goal. They wanted to bring the Gospel to life in a tangible way. Kevin said, "What we want is for people who are far from Christ, or who maybe had a bad experience growing up as a kid, wherever they are to say, 'I'm surprised. I didn't realize that these Christians who I viewed a certain way, were the most loving, kind, caring people. They have their convictions. They love to talk about Jesus Christ. Maybe I'm ready for that, or not ready for that, but I can't argue with the fact that they're showing up in the deepest, darkest places of pain and hurt in our city, and they want to make a difference." Under Kevin's leadership, the Luis Palau Association has partnered with tens of thousands of local churches to produce large Christian gatherings in cities around the globe, pioneered a festival model that includes a citywide service initiative preceding the festival event and was designed for long-term sustainability well after the festival, and developed Palau's Next Generation Alliance, which exists to serve up-and-coming evangelists through mentoring and equipping.
Brooke
This morning I arrived at Pete's right when they opened. As I ordered my cappuccino, Mike told me my drink was free today! I love when that happens! I have a Pete's card. When my points are utilized there, on occasion, my coffee is free!
Have you ever been a "card carrying member" to something? Like the Sky Lounge for American Airlines or a member of a country club, Restoration Hardware, or anything like this? It comes with special privileges. There is something that is bestowed upon you when you join. There is a weight of blessing and favor when you become a member.
Many of us don't live like God paid a price for us, inviting us, by faith, to be a full-fledged card carrying member of His resurrected power, presence and identity. He calls our body a temple where His Presence dwells. With this "membership" comes total FREEDOM, GRACE, and POWER. Why do we sometimes live and treat our bodies like they are separate from the dwelling place of God Himself? This Sunday, we are going to talk about the weight and power of what we carry as "members" of the Body of Christ. We are stewards, "card carrying members," of the actual Presence of God. Imagine living with that reality every day!
Denise
Imagine coming to the Communion Table, reaching out for a piece of the torn bread at the same time as a brother in Christ, who has just taken you to court in a bitter lawsuit. It happens. all. too. often. "I am shocked that you are suing your brother in Christ!" Paul, the spiritual father to his Corinthian children, can hardly believe what he is hearing-litigation dividing the church. This Sunday we'll consider the alternative pathway Paul provides to solve our disputes. He is confident we have what it takes to show the watching world how the cross of Christ is forming us into a cruciform community of forgiveness and reconciliation. His pastoral words are found in 1 Corinthians 6:1-11. They are loving, but hard.
"Lo, here I hang, says Christ dying: let the reproaches wherewith you reproach each other fall on me. I die to pacify you both.
Have then you something against each other? Quit it, and take me as a sacrifice in blood between you: only do not kill me and each other too."
--Thomas Goodwin
Bill
Two weeks ago, I had the honor of officiating Tara's brother's wedding in Portland. It was a beautiful day for the whole family. Sterling napped through the whole ceremony, so he missed dad-in-action, but at least he looked cute in his baby tux. One of the significant moments in the ceremony is the Declaration of Consent, especially the part where the congregation publicly affirms their support of the couple and commits to upholding the couple in their covenant of marriage. This reminds the couple they are not alone; they are part of a supportive network of relationships. This act also declares the responsibility of close friends and family to stay relationally close to the couple and help them live out their marriage covenant.
As we turn our attention to 1 Corinthians 5 this week, we see the Apostle Paul engaging in the act of supporting and upholding the Corinthian church in their fidelity to Jesus and the Gospel. He is stepping-in and speaking truth for the sake of covenant fidelity and to remind the Corinthians of their call to the Gospel. This is not easy work, but it is critical for a healthy, vibrant, and flourishing life with Jesus for the whole church.
Matt
Upside-down and inside-out. It's the beautiful and often bewildering trail to that scenic viewpoint from which we behold life from our God's-eye-view. It's the last open road to reality.The final crest to clarity. And this Sunday, Paul of Tarsus's inspired and inspiring reflections will take us there. If you want your life and relationships moving in the direction of health, truth, and freedom, join us this week as 1 Cor. 4 unveils the route!
James
Don’t take yourself so darn seriously. Let’s take ourselves more seriously. These are the paradoxical imperatives Paul offers as an inoculation to the disease threatening churches old and new. In a U.S. Christian church context enamored by celebrity pastors, shiny new ministry brands, and tired old culture wars, how can we—a 12-year-old Jesus-following community—avoid the seduction of “Pop-Churchianity®” (yes, I just invented this term)? In our passage for this week, Paul lays out a prescription. This Sunday, let’s douse our young church in this ancient wisdom!
James
Have you ever played that party game where everyone has the name of a famous person pinned onto the back of their shirt? You don't know the identity of the person on your back, but everyone else does. Your task is to move about the room asking questions that can eventually reveal the secret. There are two subtle realities manifest in the game common to other parts of our life: first, it is uncomfortable being in the dark about something that everyone else seems to know; and second, a bit of smug pride sneaks in because we have inside information.
The apostle Paul is determined that "spiritual elitism" does not get a grip on the relationships in the Corinthian church. He calls out spiritual smugness and with an ironic twist, guides all of us towards real maturity through the Spirit. His insight in 1 Corinthians 2:6-3:4 is simple and basic, but not very easy.
Bill
When our kids were young and getting ready to walk to our neighborhood elementary school we talked them through safely crossing the street. Do you parents remember those conversations? We didn't talk about the weather, the history of paving streets with asphalt, or their cool new school clothes, and we certainly didn't try to impress them with our stories of bravely walking to school, three miles each way, in the snow, uphill. We had a singular simple purpose and passion: show them how to cross the street safely. More than lecture, we walked with them; and though we could have bounded across the street barely looking left or right, we went slow, showing them step by step how they might do it themselves. The apostle Paul had a similar strategy with the Corinthians: get to the point and get them safely across the street. Read 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 and ponder his focus. Then come Sunday so we can rehearse how this works for us.
Bill
What if you’ve been looking at everything the wrong way? What if this last week, month, or decade has gone by allowing you to experience people, problems, or portions of your life through the wrong lenses? What if you’ve been watching key scenes in the unfolding adventure/stubborn drama/fog-shrouded mystery that is your life from a blind spot. These are just the kinds of scary-exciting questions that make Jesus-following at once destabilizing and refreshing. These are also the kinds of profound reflections into which Paul of Tarsus will invite us this week.
James
Our world and nation are going through a season of difficult division—evidenced most recently in the partisan back and forth applause on the floor during the Tuesday evening State of the Union speech. Politics easily divides, as does religion. The apostle Paul launched his letter to the Corinthian church because he was deeply grieved that partisan bickering and divisive behavior had begun to dismantle the unity within the spiritual family. They had allowed celebrity pastor preferences to displace the Lordship of Jesus and the power of the cross. We Christians have our [sometimes silly] differences, and sadly these often tear churches apart. This Sunday we will consider Paul’s urgent appeal as a pathway forward—it is keeping the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and his cross central, pulling us in toward each other, and Him. Read 1 Corinthians 1:10-17 and see what you think.
Bill
Our new series, A Beautiful Kind of Broken is an in depth study of I Corinthians, a letter the Apostle Paul wrote to a growing and influential church in a lively Seaport that earned its place in the Roman colonies. Here's a story for you. It's the story of a prosperous, adventurous, diverse, influential, and growing city called Corinth. There lived a wonderfully diverse church community filled with a handful of magistrates, city officials, land owners, merchants, artisans, home owners, and for most, families living at poverty level every day, all united as part of this new growing church. How will it survive? Will it break apart because of division, conflict, and class distinction? This was a church with tremendous potential yet tremendous challenges. How do the rich and poor unite together in Christ? Oh, and the story continues. The church in Corinth found itself deep within one of the most worldly cultures in the Roman world. Wealth brought lots of opportunities to stray from choosing life in Christ. A city diverse in religious expression easily could have watered down the potency of a Jesus way of living. Sexual freedom of expression and diverse sexual opportunities challenged their walk in Christ. What did they do? How did they circumnavigate these challenges? God never expected them to be perfect. In fact in their brokenness facing these challenges, God is most able to do his greatest work in their lives- To build something beautiful. Let's find out together as we explore this amazing story of a church much like ours facing many of the same challenges we face, and learn how they became a beautiful kind of broken.
Todd
Last year, the big health company, Cigna, did a massive study across our country to investigate their hunch about Americans and their connections. Their discovery: most of us are lonely, or at least wish we could experience better friendships. Deep in the DNA of The River Church is the hope and drive that no one should have to live life alone. The church is God’s gift to help alleviate loneliness. But I have discovered, and maybe you too, that “going to church” is no panacea. I want to think deeply with you this Sunday about our connections with each other, and especially what happens in our homes and around our tables. Get a start by reading Acts 2:42-47.
Bill
This Sunday Karl plans to encourage us from John 14 and talk about HOPE. Social commentators describe our world as being VUCA- volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. (Sounds like we need a little hope) Jesus says Hope is a father. The deep answers for our lives and our world are not going to be found in political solutions, referendums, economic uplifts or New Years resolutions but in a Dad.
Karl Martin
As a kid, I always wondered what it would have been like to be Charlie. He finds the final golden ticket, a chance to meet the mysterious Willy Wonka. Except I didn't grow up poor like Charlie and my grandparents were not bedridden living out their days in our family room. Nevertheless imagine the excitement of a young boy getting the chance of a lifetime to meet the one who creates what every kid craves, candy creations, gum drops, chocolate bars, Gobstoppers. For most of us, God in many ways follows the same storyline as Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. He's mysterious. He lives separate from all the people in the surrounding hamlets. He has what everyone wants. To meet him face to face would be a dream come true. Maybe too scary for some. But those young at heart and willing to step out and risk, what if the opportunity were made available? Would you step forward? Like this story made into a well known musical based on a previously published book, Paul in Colossians 1:9-14 prays that all of us would be filled with the knowledge of God's will through all wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives. Did you get that? We have the golden ticket! You have it in your hand. It's an invitation to meet the creator of all that is good, all that we truly crave. You are invited in. I pray 2019 will be a year we all cash in on the golden ticket and meet God personally in all wisdom and understanding, continuously, daily, regularly. May it be a year of new discoveries and deep delight as God reveals himself to you and all that He has for you.
Todd
Generally no one likes a show off. In fact, there is something in us that kind of rejoices when a "show off" gets "shamed up". C'mon now tell the truth. It doesn't make you a bad person, just a person with bad thoughts sometimes- like me! However, in Proverbs 27 it's said, "let another man sing your praises and not your own mouth, even a stranger and not your own lips. Come join us this Sunday as we get to see this new year how God's world (the creation), his word (the Bible) and his people (us) get to show him off.
Jazz
I love, love, love the wonder of Christmas, but also find intoxicating the buckle-up drive of starting fast and fresh in the New Year. My unrealistic idealism has softened over the years, but I still set good goals and strive to see them accomplished. But as I seek renewal in my walk with Jesus, it is ironic that Christmas grace can so easily turn into New Year's duty and law. Why do I keep on trying to prove myself to God and to you? A line or two in a Christmas carol captured me this year: "Oh holy night! The stars are brightly shining. It is the night of the dear Savior's birth! Long lay the world in sin and error pining, Till he appear'd and the soul felt its worth. We are invited to start 2019 held by the storyline that threads from the beginning to the end of our sacred Scriptures-you, your whole being, just as you are right now, have immense worth to God.
Bill
“Prepare the way for the Lord!” These are the words of the prophet anticipating the coming of God’s chosen King. We worship the King Jesus at Christmas and celebrate the fact that he was born to Mary and Joseph over two thousand years ago. Christmas has come and gone, yet Scripture tells us Christ will come again. Prepare the way!
As we look forward to a new year, a new beginning, new diets, new initiatives, new friendships, new additions, new addresses, and newly innovated forms of newness….let us look forward to the coming of the Lord in new, fresh ways on earth as it is in heaven. God moved in a radical new way two thousand years ago, sending His Son to make his home among us. God is still on the move. You and I are witnesses to this movement. What new ways will God move in 2019? Prepare the way for the Lord!
Tommy
Of the many things I love about Christmas, near the top of the list is the fact that it sets the table for reflection on the past year. Where have I been in these last 12 months? Where do I find myself this Christmas and how does it compare to Christmases of the past? Where have I invested my life, relationships, mind, materials? Importantly, what's the status of my spiritual health? This year I've been asking a very specific question: Where have I been trusting God? How's my faithing been this year, this month, this moment? There is perhaps no better figure to reflect with than the Joseph of Matthew's Gospel-a character we meet in the first chapters and never hear from again. In these brief but beautiful vignettes, we enjoy a glimpse into authentic, non-glamorous, elegant faithing.
James
In Mere Christianity, CS Lewis writes, “If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be without meaning.” Stay with me. Read that again slowly. Why does the world have no meaning? Because there is a contrast. Darkness and light are contrasting one another. In a world without light there would be no contrast and no knowledge that we are missing something that we have to find. Right? Lewis is making a case for Christ. The moment we knew the universe has no meaning is when the light of the world shines down into it. The contrast is stunning. Jesus is said to be the light of the world. John 3:19 tells us that the light has come into the world. The moment light arrives you can see the contrast between meaninglessness and purpose. This Christmas is all about celebrating the light that came into the world to bring us purpose and meaning. The Magi from the east found that light. They sought hard after it. They sacrificed much to find it. And when they found it, everything made sense to them. How about you? Are you seeking after Jesus? Having found him, does everything now make sense? It should. That’s why I can hardly wait for Christmas. The light has come. I will worship that light.
Todd
The Christmas season always brings so much joy and warmth for me, with the anticipation of the little family traditions and celebratory moments: decorating a Christmas tree, walking through the Christmas light section in South Torrance, eating lots of my Nana's famous English Toffee, and watching lots of football. And this Christmas I get to celebrate with Sterling. I’ve heard there is nothing like watching your own kids experience Christmas, so I’m looking forward to this Christmas more than usual. In short, the Christmas season for me is full of positive moments and tons of excitement.
Yet, as we will see in our passage this Sunday, Christmas brought trouble to lots of people. It gave Joseph, Mary, the Magi, King Herod, the chief priests and scribes, and the whole towns of Jerusalem and Bethlehem trouble. With my experience of Christmas, it seems a bit odd that a little baby could bring so much trouble (Sterling, don’t get any ideas!) In Matthew 2:1-18 fear and anxiety seem to be the dominant emotion, not the warm fuzzies. So what could a Christmas full of trouble teach us about God and God’s Kingdom?
As we will see, while all experienced trouble and uncertainty, some reacted in fear with defiance to what God was doing while others responded in hope with faith. This offers us a paradigm for our lives because in the face of fear, we follow Jesus in the path of hope.
Matt
December 2, 2018 What kind of gift un-wrapper are you? a. The kind who folds and saves the paper, careful to peel the tape up without ripping anything.
b. The kind who tears it all off ... and gets stuck on that huge lame bow that's been triple knotted (who triple knots a bow anyway?!)
c. You have to wait for everyone to tell you three times to open your gift because you like to watch everyone else open theirs first.
d. Long before Christmas morning you've found every gift under the tree with your name on it and opened one end of the package or scooted the tissue paper over ... no surprises here!
It's a little early to be opening Christmas gifts but this Sunday I want to talk about your style. Most of you have heard the Christmas story a million times - you know all about the gift that Mary was given and the gift that YOU have been given. But the way you receive THAT gift THIS season matters. Join us Sunday as we kick off our Christmas series at the River with all-things Christmas including candles, carols, cute kids, and a whole lot of cheer.
Brooke
Who's hot right now? What's trending? Who's the game-changer? Front-runner? Paradigm-shifter? Leading Innovator/Expert/Entrepreneur? What will make my resume pop? How can I distinguish myself in the workplace/classroom/community? Am I Ivy League? Top tier? Avant-garde? How am I different? Fresh? Eye-catching? How many likes did that get? What's my legacy? Does this sermon blurb outdo my last one??? In our 21st-century historical moment of personal media platforms, startup pitches, impacted majors, and political pyrotechnics, "Distinguish yourself!" has quickly become one of our national anthems. As we close out our "Arise and Build" series with the last three chapters of Nehemiah, we will discover that in our mad scramble to sparkle, we might just be missing one of the richest gifts God has to offer: the extraordinary beauty of the ordinary.
James
I am a task-oriented person. I love projects and getting things done. I make lists and check things off with the joy of accomplishment—sometimes I even go back and write down what I have already done just so I can create a box and check it off my to-do list. Nehemiah was also a “get ‘er done” guy too. He was the right leader to rally the people and rebuild the wall around Jerusalem. But he knew his construction project was more than bricks and mortar. Beyond building the wall was forming a people. People were Nehemiah’s priority. He knew that exile had taken a deep toll on the Jewish soul and identity. As we near the conclusion of Nehemiah’s personal memoir, his attention focuses onto the spiritual formation of the people of God. Read Nehemiah 9-10 and see how he guides his people into honest confession and a tangible commitment. What good is a secure city if its people are crumbling from the inside out?
Bill
November 11, 2018 Neh 8:10 is a well known verse: The joy of the Lord is my strength." How is joy our strength? How can we be stronger people because of joy? The answer lies within Neh 8. Strength comes when we find our joy not in our circumstances but in what we know is true of us according to what God says about us. Yet, we'll never know unless we pick up and read. People read a lot of things, the newspaper, blogs, magazine articles, online postings, twitter. Twitter truly baffles me. At any rate, what you read matters. It determines whether you are a happy person or a joy-filled person. Nehemiah gathered the entire city to one place for the reading of God's word. Their response was joy. Something they read triggered an emotional response that far supersedes momentary encounters with things that make us happy, like a new toy or an uptick in the market, or even a huge gain. Something got them going. The wall is built, the city is slowly being inhabited by God's faithful returnees. They are on the verge of becoming great again. And they stop to read the word. I like that.
Todd
Many years ago I heard a speaker say these words: "Leaders are most challenged by two things, finishing well, and replacing themselves." I never forgot those words. I wondered when they would apply to me. Maybe some day in the future. Yet, I don't think you wake up one morning and say to yourself, "Today is the day I finish well and replace myself." I think it is something you live for. Paul mentions finishing the race. He also refers to entrusting what you know to others. Both are critical to the life of a leader as well as a follower of Jesus. The same is true for an employer and employee. The same for a parent. Nehemiah did both well. He didn't boast, he just finished well and replaced himself. It's all found in Neh 7. The wall is complete but the job is not done. My wife and I were in one of those reflective conversations with a potential new member of our church leadership team last night. We were talking about where it all began and then it shifted to where we want it all to be some day. I said, "What I want more than anything is to leave behind my life's work in one amazing place, a church, for benefit of future generations." It's not about me and it is not about you. It's about finishing well and clearing a path for someone else.
Todd
It is one thing to conceive and start a great project; it is another to finish it. Great projects need great finishes. But all too often leaders and dreams fizzle before the job gets done. Fatigue, discouragement, and distractions can slow, and even stop us in our tracks. Nehemiah has shown us what it looks like to step into a calling from God and give great energy to rally people around a grand vision. But his opponents are relentless, even desperate as they near the goal line. Nehemiah’s courage, character and convictions will show us the way to finish well. What is the “great project” God has called you into? Are there distractions tempting you to give up? Nehemiah 6 tells the story of the “great finish.”
Bill
"What if there's not enough? What if I run out? What if this half-empty cup runs dry? In different seasons of life we've all asked these questions. They are perfectly rational. Applied with wisdom these concerns can even lead to healthy planning and conservation. Too often, however, these questions operate with a dark side in our lives. The fear of not having enough has haunted so many of the desperate failures in human history and the atrocities recounted in stories populating the Scriptures. In Nehemiah chapter five, the mindset and heart-set of scarcity that underlies these questions comes close to rotting Israel's rebuilding efforts and community from the inside-out. Nehemiah, however, inspires in a different direction. He leads his people from the wastelands of tightfisted self-interest to the God of abundance. This Sunday let's take the same journey.
James
Murphy's law - if anything can go wrong it will go wrong. Ever feel that way? It's just gonna. Ever buy a depreciating asset like a car, a boat, a plane or a prosthetic? It's all good at the start. Everything seem to be humming along. But something will go wrong. Something's gonna go wrong. Just wait. Too many moving parts. The same for home improvement projects. Same in God's economy. It doesn't necessarily mean it was a bad idea. It just means you have to learn to overcome. Last week we talked about what it's like to be an underdog. God bets on underdogs. This week in Nehemiah 4, it's about being an overcomer when things go terribly wrong- when you are opposed by an enemy who wants to see you fail, when everyone quits on you, when it seems all hope is lost. This week is about defeating discouragement when you are opposed. What do you do? Nehemiah prayed his enemy into the ground and got his people back onto the wall with new perspective and some armory. Nothing like a spear in hand while building a wall. What do you do when you encounter opposition? Murphy's law says it will. Give it time. Pray like it's all up to God and plan like it's all up to you.
Todd
"God's on line 2 and He says He wants to talk to you about a job." Let yourself into this imaginary scenario for a moment. God is calling you for a job. What would you be thinking? What joys, excitements, or fears would be racing through your mind as you sipped some water, cleared your throat, took a deep breath and picked up line 2? Now He's talking to you about a project for which you have, in your estimation, exactly zero credentials. It's a job, furthermore, that puts you on the front lines addressing one of the most massive crises that has faced your people in generations. Now take this situation, scroll back a couple millennia, lose the phone part, and you have Nehemiah 3. This Sunday we're going to talk about what happened when God called on a roster of seemingly unremarkable people for a remarkable project. Shoulder to shoulder, family beside family, ancient Israel arose and built. Join us as we consider how this ancient near eastern story speaks into our modern moment. What happens next when God's on line 2?
James
I remember building our family cabin in Idaho over 38 years ago. My dad had bought some land overlooking the Tetons, recruited some high school buddies for the summer and headed out in the summer of 1980. It was a log home so the logs were cut, numbered and delivered. All we had to do was assemble them. We worked together toward a common goal, the construction of what would be for close to 35 years, a place for our family to gather, recharge, create memories and even more importantly a place to talk with God and invite him into our lives. I have to believe when Nehemiah began construction on the wall around Jerusalem, he knew this was more than a wall. It was about a city for a people to gather, recharge and create memories. It was about one huge unified gathering of families working together to build a city for all people to meet God. The walls, the gates, the doors, and the towers were all part of a larger plan to build something that would stand for God being present in their lives. It was so much more than a wall with gates and doors and towers. As we have been saying, it was always about people. The people who helped build the wall, the gates, doors and towers and the people who would benefit from having a place to meet with God. So, as we have been saying, "Arise and build." There's a time for prayer. There is time for planning. And there is a time to build. Now is the time. Arise and build. So, with Neh 3 in our sights, let's look this week at what we are building and why we are building it.
Todd
Prayer and planning are not polar opposites, but instead work together. Jim Pennington is the senior pastor of Temple Church in New Bern, N.C, and helped pull about 30 people from floodwaters in the opening hours of Hurricane Florence. Part of his interview with the New York Times included this insightful quip, "It's easy to say, 'I love God,' but put on your boots, get your hands dirty." Nehemiah was a deeply devoted servant of God, committed to prayerful solutions to the problems in his generation. The first chapter in Nehemiah is all about his prayer. His second chapter is all about his planning. Any God-sized project worth our best efforts flows out of Preparation = Prayer + Planning. What is the burden stirring in your soul? What are you planning to do about it? Let's work on it together this weekend.
Bill
So you think you are a hot shot business owner? Teacher of the year? Coach of the century? Best parent ever? You got nothing on Nehemiah. Living during post war defeat and complete annihilation, Israel is in ruins and so are the people. Morale is low. It's 5th century BC. How do you rally the troops? I know. It takes one individual with a vision for his people to rebuild from the ruins. In 52 days they rebuild the wall around the city of Jerusalem. No modern day hotshot business CEO could pull that off against all the odds- no resources, people scattered, heavy opposition to name a few. And it's not about the wall. It's about arising and building a city, a community that honors God for the next generation. It's not about the wall it's about giving people a place to belong and become a part of something greater than themselves. It's about working together to become a place of refuge for the poor and the broken-hearted. A place for a new generation to rise up and be the people of God. Where does it all begin? Chapter 1 of Nehemiah says it starts with prayer. Not money. Not people. Not plans. This one principle would change every major organization across the world if they simply did it.
Todd
How do we create a growing culture of discipleship in and through the River Church?
Creating a culture starts with one person at a time, growing closer to Jesus and showing others how to do the same.
That means you and that means me. That means ALL OF US!
A disciple, is simply someone who believes in Jesus and seeks to follow him in his or her daily life with all of their being. Obviously, in Jesus' day, disciples were actually IN the presence of Jesus. Today we have His word. We have the Holy Spirit. We have each other to model the work of Jesus, teach the ways of Jesus, and love with the heart of Jesus.
This Sunday we are going to look at the relationship between Paul and Timothy and how Paul encouraged Timothy to look around for others to disciple also. It's called multiplication - one teaches one, and that one teaches, another, and so on and so forth until ultimately the whole world is full of little colonies of Jesus and the kingdom of God.
Join us THIS SUNDAY for the challenge! Imagine, EACH OF US following Jesus and becoming a disciple! Imagine EACH OF US looking around and teaching someone else how to do the same!!!! I believe this is our opportunity to build God's church and to bring the tender love of God to all the earth!
Denise
Let's talk about Jesus. Jaroslav Pelican remarks that "Jesus of Nazareth has been the dominate figure in history of Western culture for almost twenty centuries. So, in response to this reality, Dallas Willard asks and answers this question: "So what explains the enduring relevance of Jesus to human life?" His answer? "He matters because of what he brought and what he still brings to ordinary human beings, living their ordinary lives and coping daily with their surroundings. He promises wholeness for their lives. In sharing our weakness he gives us strength and imparts through his companionship a life that has the quality of eternity." Many years ago I came to faith believing that Jesus had become my Lord and Savior, he occupied my mind non stop for the last 50 years. I'm 57 now. What contributed to this Jesus state of being for me? One word - Discipleship. I have never been without being in a discipleship relationship with Jesus and with another person who has spurred me on to becoming more and more like Jesus. That's discipleship. Luke 6:40 says, "The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher." Do you know what Jesus said right before that? "A blind man cannot guide a blind man, can he? Will they both not fall into a pit?" What about a blind man leading a blind man? His point is someone has to see ahead to guide the way to avoid the pits. Just because we have come to faith in Christ does not mean we can self direct ourselves forward. And so many of us do just that. We try it alone. Others of us are in relationship with Jesus and others and never realized that this is why I'm growing in my faith. Discipleship is the act by which we enter into relationship with another or a group of others to see the way forward in becoming more and more like Jesus. Going at it alone is like the blind leading the blind. This was Jesus' point. Discipleship is the way to Christlikeness. How have we gotten so far off track thinking that a church service or a good sermon is going to correct all that? It won't. For the next two weeks I plan to bring you what I consider to be the most important priority of every believer in Christ- discipleship.
Todd
August 26, 2018 This weekend we finish I Peter. In the final section (5:6-12), Peter identifies three battlegrounds we all face - the battle over humility, the battle over anxiety, and the battle over the Adversary, the devil. In fact, I find that these three battlegrounds are all related. Satan's desire is to take us out. Either we succumb to pride, anxiety or the devil's direct assault on our faith. I can honestly say that the times I have been most vulnerable to attack have been when I have seen pride, anxiety or faithlessness take refuge in my heart. And they are detrimental to healthy relationships. Pride pushes others away, anxiety keeps us immobilized, and faithlessness leaves us unsatisfied with God. But we can overcome.
Todd
It is cute watching a teacher play "follow the leader" with her first-grade students. It is exhilarating obeying the commands of a white-water rafting guide. It is terrifying when a fire fighter yells, "follow me," to residents of a burning building. It was brutal waiting and hoping search teams could rescue all the boys and their coach from the Thailand cave. Leading and following is common, critical, and consequential. In 1 Peter, the apostle knows the Jesus-movement was young and in the midst of a "fiery ordeal" of suffering, testing, and growth. Its future depended on courageous and competent leaders, faithful followers, and a mutual commitment to humility. Though our ordeal may look different, it can feel fiery just the same. For each of us in this beautiful flow we call The River, the risk and responsibility of leading and following remain high.
Bill
August 12, 2018 We're in a series covering the New Testament epistle 1 Peter entitled "Victory". This Sunday we'll see how followers of Jesus are "winning" even when it doesn't look that way (1 Peter 4:12-19). Peter tells his audience they shouldn't be surprised if they find themselves sharing in the suffering of Jesus. Look at the life of Jesus: he suffers with his hurt and broken people even to the point of death. He calls his followers to do the same. Yet at the end of all of this suffering, there is promise of glorious new life. Join us! - It will be even more fun than it sounds.
Tommy
Lately my kids have been into Netflix cooking shows—I have no idea why, but it’s a nice break from Disney Junior. It seems like every episode there’s always that one aesthetically-brilliant culinary creation that impresses the judges and audience alike right up to the final (and always definitive) leg of the inspection, namely, the taste test. During that test, if you see the judges cringe, then it doesn’t matter how symmetrical, glittery, or visually-complex the dish is, it’s out. Our passage this Sunday provides a refreshing reminder for Jesus-followers living in our current world of rhetorical games, political spin, mass marketing, and Instagram filters: the taste test matters! People crave something real. Thus, if our faith is just a cathedral of doctrines, a set of cognitive affirmations, or well-rehearsed insider-rituals, then it fails the taste test. The South Bay is hungry for organic, nutritious, and delicious lives committed to the ultimate purpose of human existence, and 1 Peter is pointing the way!
James
Actions speak louder than words. Our faith in Jesus is on display when we live out the nitty gritty details of life at work, in school, and with friends and family. The call and choice to follow Jesus in an increasingly un-Christian society impacts every relationship, including those under the roof where we live. While not writing a Marriage Manual, Peter provides practical counsel to Christian wives and husbands seeking to work out their faith in their most intimate commitments. His words in 1 Peter 2:11-3:8 give timely advice for all of us, in whatever relational status we find ourselves today. Let's figure out how to put Peter's words into our actions this Sunday. Take a few moments to read what he has to say, and then let's wrestle out some application this weekend. Oh, and this is important, we can't make a twenty-first century application of Peter's words until we understand the first- century context for husbands and wives.
Bill
Ethics is defined as a set of beliefs or moral principles that dictate behavior or at least in principle, should dictate behavior. What good are ethics without a corresponding behavior? Peter has laid the groundwork in I Peter 2-3 to describe the Christian ethic. Now in chapter 2:11 all the way to 3:7 Peter makes the case that when push comes to shove, it's how you live, not what you say that counts. Our Christian ethic must permeate our behavior to have any impact in culture whatsoever. In an article in the Guardian on the view of American Christianity: change and decay, the question is raised, "Is Christianity ceasing to matter in the United States?" Great question. Several articles point to a demise in Christian influence, not because Christian truths are antiquated but because there is no sign of Christian morality in the lifestyle of the believer anywhere. We who call ourselves Christians have melded with society instead of influencing, or as Andy Crouch says, "creating it". So, does what you believe bleed out into the way you live? Peter addresses the 4 relational arenas we interface with every day - the world, government, work, and marriage. How we are presenting ourselves to an unbelieving audience in each of these arenas is Peter's concern for our next two weeks together.
Todd
July 8, 2018 There are so many types of stones and gemstones: granite, marble, slate, limestone, sapphire, beryl, emerald, etc... Can you name a few more? Well, which one would you say is the most beautiful? For me it's probably Smoky Quartz or Black Onyx. Well, which one would you say carries the most value? I'm gonna say Blue Diamond... only because I googled it. Come this Sunday as we examine 1 Peter 2:4-12 and learn about the most beautiful, precious, life-giving stone that is yours to keep and cherish forever.
Jazz
July 1, 2018 “Love may be simple. Life is complicated.” Lewis B. Smedes
I wonder if it is getting more difficult to have intelligent, respectful, helpful conversations about the complexing issues of our lives. We’re tempted to move quickly into defensive, protective postures and corners. The impact is felt in our work, politics, driving, families, schools, dating, social media, and friendships.
The letter of 1 Peter leads us into a journey of love where the barriers of “different” and “other” melt away into community, unity, help, and compassion. Love may be a simple action, but it takes intense, intentional, persistent work. Peter says it this way, “Love one another deeply, from the heart.” Let’s get after this deep love, described in 1 Peter 1:22-2:3.
Grace and peace, Bill
It is most unfashionable to speak of holiness today. Far more acceptable is to talk about love. The pejorative "Holy Rollers," or Dana Carvey as the SNL "Church Lady" comes to our cringing mind. The worst offense is to be judgmental. Or preachy. Or moralistic. We understandably run from a smug moral superiority that sometimes hides hypocrisy.
But Peter says plainly: "just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do."
What the heck are we to do with that imperative? This Sunday we will look at the three-sided beauty of holiness in 1 Peter 1:13-21. We will discover that holiness and love always go together. We will move toward the adventure and joy of bringing health and wholeness to a deeply hurting world.
A fellow stranger in a strange world,
Bill
Our passage this father's day describes from Peter's perspective the radical transformation from being aliens (which I believe could have a double meaning, once alienated from God, and now alienated from the social norms of this world) to full conversion to Christianity, to becoming a full fledged maturing believer whose faith has stood the test of time and trial (I Peter 1:1-12). I believe that true faith is more than simply assent or conversion to Christianity but a radical new relationship with God in the midst of trials and difficulties. As Dorothy Sayers says, "If Christianity is to be anything more than wishful thinking about ethical thinking" then we truly need to understand our dogma more clearly. And here is a deeper look at dogma. Our faith cannot flourish without personally transitioning from alienation to conformity to what I am calling a healthy antagonism with God in the midst of real life trials. I was inspired this week by a talk I heard entitled: "How to be an Idiot". It drew me in. I listened to it three times and then did some background research on this person's data and sources. It was all about conversion to Christianity through a movement or a process of being an idiot to becoming a moron to finally settling in as an imbecile, each representing a stage of progression from alienation to conformity to healthy antagonism of the world around them and in relationship with their God. He's looking at these terms not from an intelligence standpoint but from a way in which we see and interact with the world and God. Coming back to Peter and his overarching reason for writing this letter, he strongly presents a battle plan for victory- how to handle difficulties and live healthy and thriving until the hope which is to be revealed. It's about becoming an imbecile.
Todd
Last Sunday we zoomed all the way out and beheld the big-picture beauty of the entire letter of 1 Peter. This week, we are going to pull out the microscope and look exclusively at the letter's profound two-verse greeting. Join us as we discover that this ancient two-line introduction contains far more than thin social pleasantries or stock rhetorical filler. Instead, the short passage is absolutely pregnant with inspiring theology and timeless principles that, if we truly wrap our heads and hearts around, will set the table for unparalleled victory in our lives.
James
I Peter is about living a victorious Christian life even in the midst of trials and suffering. Rather than being discouraged and sidelined by hardship, Peter encourages us to grow from our trials, long for the pure milk of God's word, live in a harmonious way with all fellow believers, honor our governing authorities, guard yourself from the fleshly lustful living, serve in our giftedness, and stand firm against spiritual attack. Live out the victory which is ours in Jesus. That's Peter's message to us today. Defeat is not an option. Live victorious in Christ. Peter calls us aliens and strangers, socially disenfranchised in this world, yet with a rich new identity in Christ as a holy nation, a royal priesthood. Our new identity in Christ is what we lean into even in the midst of suffering and trials to live out this victory in Christ. This letter of Peter's is a fresh voice calling us to walk in the ways of Christ. Its not easy to live this out. In fact its downright difficult. But its possible and more rewarding than the alternative. And that my friends, is why we follow Peter's lead.
Todd
We are in commencement season. Colleges, universities, high schools, middle schools, and home schools, are inviting speakers to give a commencement address to the graduating students. It is a fun and exciting time of year as it celebrates the end of one journey and the beginning of new adventures. I have always enjoyed commencement speeches, especially ones that leave me inspired to live the best life possible. As we wrap up our Belonging series this Sunday, we come to John 17. The whole chapter is a prayer by Jesus, the longest prayer that we have recorded by him. It is a beautiful and powerful prayer. It is deeply personal and reveals Jesus' intimate relationship with the Father. Yet, the prayer is more than Jesus' desires for his disciples. The prayer commissions the disciples for the journey they are about to embark on without Jesus. It is a call to faithfulness in the world; to remaining steadfast in the Jesus way. It is a prayer for public discipleship.
Matt
I would not call myself a prayer warrior. In fact, I wish I prayed more. I really do. I feel like so many things crowd in and the day is over before I know it. I have certainly grown in this area and do make time to be with the Lord. In fact, some of my best times are walking alone. It's one long conversation with the Lord that I look forward to. It's just me and the Lord. It's some of my favorite time, yet I feel like I could pray more. Luther once said he had so much to accomplish that he could not but afford to spend the first 3 hours in prayer. I couldn't imagine. Jesus was often found in prayer to His father. Rather than a 3 hour in the morning Luther kind of prayer life, I find myself more like CS Lewis who once shared the story in the Atlantic back in 1959 about intending to go to a barber shop in London for his haircut. He decided not to go then sensed he should go. He went and the barber, whom he knew, a Christian brother whom had had in the past many troubles said, "I was praying you'd come today". He felt a nagging so he went. A nagging. Prayer is essentially talking with God. Prayer is also God talking to us. It's a conversation, it's a nagging. It's us coming into the presence of God and God coming into our presence. It's no coincidence then that Jesus covered this subject in John 13-17, His most intimate conversations with His Father and His disciples. Jesus calls us to pray. So where do I begin? What should I do? John 16:16-33 implores us to get moving in the area of prayer. So let's gather to talk about how.
Todd
I love big sermon points. Inspirational speeches. Swelling epic music scores! Anyone who has ever heard me preach knows that I work in hyperbole like so many painters work in oils. In conversation, I shift between the gears of "excited" and "really, really excited." Even as I write this blurb, my left leg is bouncing up and down with energy subconsciously escaping my body. Thus, it's no surprise that my sermons are frequently populated with big calls to grand leaps of faith. But as I've been studying the scriptures for this series, listening to our amazing teaching team, and reflecting on my life, I'm pondering a quite different question: What if thriving faith is less often grandiose leaps and more often a stubborn remaining in the love of Jesus? Join us this Mother's Day Sunday as we ponder the art and science of staying put.
James
We have a beautiful orange tree in our backyard. It hasn't always been that way. For years it seemed to be not only dormant, but useless, producing no fruit. I thought of cutting it down, tearing it out, giving its space to something more "orangey." Then, several years ago, big, succulent, juicy, tasty, and very orange oranges blossomed and sprung forth from its branches. We pick them, eat them, and squeeze fresh orange juice to quench our thirst. The fruit is beautiful and seems miraculous, and I marvel that this tree in the ground, gives life through its trunk and out into the branches and blossoms, popping out perfect fruit encased in a protective peel. How does this happen? The farewell words of Jesus in John 15:1-8 give a good and hopeful explanation we can work on together this Sunday.
Bill
Have you ever felt alone in a crowd? I have. We live in a hyper-connected space, and even have thousands of mini-notifications all day long. But do you long for deep, soul-nourishing, life-infusing connection? We want something, or someone, who can fill us with courage and direction along the trailhead that beckons us beyond ourselves [check out James' sermon from last week - so good!]. We have just such an expert guide! As Jesus prepares his disciples to launch into their new mission after his departure, he assures them they will not travel alone. He promises we will have all the resources we could ever imagine, and a way forward to lean strong into his life that is life indeed. See this in John 14:15-27.
Bill
Early in the 2001 adaptation of The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, the lovable hobbit Sam Gamgee sparks a memorable exchange. Sam: “This is it.” Frodo: “What?” Sam: “If I take one more step, I'll be the farthest away from home I've ever been.” Frodo: “Come on, Sam. Remember what Bilbo used to say: ‘It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no telling where you might be swept off to.’” For me, John 14:1-14 is a trailhead leading to grand new territories in the adventure of faith. In this passage, Jesus invites those who would be his apprentices to lean into his magnificent favor with a reckless abandon; to expect more; to ambitiously posture themselves toward the horizon. It is the kind of passage that reveals, yet again, that there is more in the mundane of Jesus-following than meets the eye. It is a sign-post that reads: “amazing, dangerous, and beautiful lengths of trail ahead.” This Sunday let’s take a refreshing gaze into the yonder!
James
Imagine for a moment that only 2% of the population of the South Bay consisted of followers of Jesus. Imagine that almost all of your friends, coworkers, and neighbors didn't really know the story of Jesus, and for them "Christianity" was an outdated, cold, rigid, lifeless philosophy and institution. Now imagine that you wanted to bring the life-imparting, joy-saturating reality of Jesus to this hope-starved neighborhood. How would you do it? Where would you begin? My dear friend and fellow Christ-proclaiming optimist, Stefan von Rüti, is powerfully ministering in exactly the context I described. As the Swiss leader a wild-eyed, multi-national network of young church-planters, and Theological schools (ISTL), Stefan and his team are on the cutting edge of creatively and compellingly proclaiming the great news of Jesus in post-Christian Europe. The key to their generation-awakening ministry is the same not-so-secret sauce that Jesus débuts in John 13:34-35-authentic, visible, undiluted love. Join us this Sunday as we have the privilege of hearing from one of the most captivating emerging leaders of our day! You can't not be encouraged :)
James
Our new series is entitled Belonging Co. We plan to look at what Jesus said about his own relationship with God as he spent some very personal time with his disciples before the cross and his departure from this earth. It is some of the most revealing and intimate thoughts and learnings we get from Jesus. It's all about belonging to God. Jesus pressed in on what it looks like to have an intimate relationship with his father for our sake. He showed us how. This weekend we begin in John 13:1-30, the famous foot washing passage. Jesus takes up a towel and basin and washes his disciples feet. How is that connected to Belonging. Martin Luther King Jr. once wrote that love and power have usually been contrasted as opposites, polar opposites. He said love is identified with the resignation of power and power with the denial of love. He continues his thought by challenging his followers to find the relationship between the two where real power is the display of love in tangible ways like justice. Jesus is demonstrating great love and great power in this passage. He's marrying the two and showing us the way forward. It looks like weakness, it smells like defeat, it sounds like a useless plan. But in Jesus' brilliance, he is showing us belonging to God is about serving. Revealing something about our relationship with Him and with others-fellow followers of Christ and those around us.
Todd
This weekend we are in the Old Testament again. Last week we looked at Job and his pain and suffering. We learned God's presence shatters pain. This week we'll be focusing on Isaiah the prophet's message in chapter 40, "Comfort, O Comfort my people, says your God." And oh how they needed comfort, and so do we. We could all use a little comfort. Isaiah, the prophet for Israel, was born into an influential, upper class family. He shared the privileges of royalty and became a sort of attache for Israel. Isaiah was perfect for the job. Isaiah would attack the social ills of the nation not as a reformer but as one calling the people back to God. Spiritual decline had left the nation vulnerable. And so it is with us as well. Privilege, complacency, and a life of leisure, and even times of difficulty often leads to spiritual idolatry. Think about what has become your God in this season of your life. Who do you listen to? God is calling us back into a faithful relationship with Him as he did Israel through his words of comfort. A highway is being built in the wilderness for the king of comfort. He comes for us in the midst of our wandering, our pain, our struggles, our rebellion. Comfort says the king.
Todd
Pain, Presence, Comfort, and......JOY. We've come to the end, but notice it starts with pain. It will lead to joy if we give it permission. Servais Pinckaers wrote a book, The Pursuit of Happiness. I've been reading it these last few weeks. It's a commentary on the Beatitudes in Matthew 5:1-12, our text for this weekend. He says, "The voice of suffering is a strange voice. It silences all others, leaves us breathless, speechless when it reverberates. Is this not precisely the quality which likens suffering's voice to the voice of God who leads us into the solitude of the desert to speak with us?" Now that is profound, deep and life changing. Focus on that a minute. Maybe suffering leads us to hear the voice of God. Our entire series comes to a close with this thought: Maybe God eagerly awaits to use your suffering to bring you to a place to hear his voice, sense his comfort, be in his presence, and to be filled with his joy. And here it ends. God's joy is deposited into the heart of the one who humbles herself under the magnificent guiding and loving hand of the Lord. What better place to discover God's joy than the beatitudes. The beatitudes are the course correctors in our lives that bring us to this place to experience true joy. Jesus says, "Rejoice and be glad" right after listing the beatitudes. Joy comes by humbling oneself by adopting the beatitudes as role models in our lives.
Todd
Rainer Maria Rilke wrote a poem about a trial that feels like being trapped in a massive rock, "like a vine of ore alone, encased." She can't see the path or any distance. "Everything is close and everything is closing in on me." Then she ends with, "Since I still don't know enough about pain, this terrible darkness makes me small. If it's you, though- Press down hard on me, break in that I may know the weight of your hand, and you, the fullness of my cry." Ever feel that way in the midst of a trial too great to endure? I am certain this weekend, Job, our biblical character will lead us to a better understanding of what God is up to in the midst of a difficulty too great for us to manage by ourselves. Job is one of the oldest stories in the Bible. He was a godly man and a prosperous man. And then the massive rock closed in on him. He looses his children, his properties, his possessions. "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I shall return there," he says. "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away." We like the giving part, not the taking part. Yet, in the end. Job gets more than he ever bargained for. He gets a conversation with God that is priceless.
Todd
The storm that caused the waves to crash against the side of the disciple's boat that ominous night was not the thing to be feared most. It was the one in the boat with the disciples that was even more terrifying than the storm. The times I have encountered storms in my life, I have focused more on the storm than Jesus, the one in the boat with me. I am afraid I have it all wrong. CS lewis said something so profound in Grief Observed that it is worth repeating.
"God has not been trying an experiment on my faith or love in order to find out their quality. He knew it already. It was I who didn't. In this trial He makes us occupy the dock, the witness box, and the bench all at once. He always knew that my temple was a house of cards. His only way of making me realize the fact was to knock it down."
I wonder sometimes if I have built my faith on a house of cards and it just needs a good knocking over to realize that what I'm really after is something far more powerful than any storm I might encounter. This in no way diminishes the pain and anguish we feel in the storm. It's real and it hurts. It is to say this passage speaks to our faith and to our focus more than I ever realized.
Todd
This weekend we conclude our rich and delightful journey through Paul's heartfelt letter to the Jesus followers in Ephesus. He keeps reminding them, and us, that we all are doing better than we think. His final words take us into a dark place, exposing a very real enemy, whose one intent is to destroy the beauty God has restored with His love. This evil is a defeated enemy, and we have been given all the resources needed to "take our stand against the devil's schemes." Let's begin a conversation about what that looks like for us in 2018.
Bill
"Who." That may be the most important pronoun in life. We can so quickly lose track of ourselves in the "what" of our lives, lifestyles, projects and play. Our text from Ephesians this week is filled to the brim with the "what" of the Jesus-following lifestyle, but right smack in the middle, Paul comes up for air and reminds the Ephesians (and us today) about the all-important "WHO's": Who we are, who we follow. If you've ever forgotten who you are in this crazy, complex, busy, bustling, beautiful thing called life, let's remember together this Sunday!
James
Happy Birthday to The River Church of the South Bay! A group of faithful, adventurous souls gathered at the home of Steve and Ceci Watts on February 7, 2007, and committed to one another that they would start something new and fresh, spurred on by Isaiah 43:19 ...
“Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.”
They were committed to Jesus, to one another, and to our neighborhoods. The growth of spiritual depth, influence in our community, and reach around the world, not ignoring also the growth in the number of people who call The River their spiritual home and family, has been beautiful. I am grateful to you original families, and indeed, God is still doing something new in and through you who today make up The River Church. So happy birthday! The maturity manifested throughout The River is an illustration of Paul’s passion in Ephesians 4 that local churches will be intentional about growing up. He says, “don’t stay a baby, move toward maturity.” He emphasizes two strands of intentionality toward growing up [Ephesians 4:1-16]: unity of the whole, and contribution from the individual.
Bill
Are you a Christian? Do you count yourself as part of Christ's body, adopted into God's family, and marked with the seal of the Holy Spirit? If so, then do you think one or a number of your friends or family members prayed for you to become a Christian? Who do you think it was?
Maybe you've heard a lot of Christian language, but it hasn't quite landed. You're still checking things out, wondering what it's about. Do you think one or a number of your friends or family members is actively praying for you to fully experience God's love? Who do you think it is?
Or do you have a friend or family member in need of some inner strength, and for Christ to dwell in her heart, to have roots in a loving community, and personally know God's love in Jesus? You are invited to pray Paul's poetic verses of Ephesians 3:14-21 on behalf of your friends, family members, and all others who are on their way back home in God through Jesus by the Spirit.
This Sunday, let's pray this prayer together to the Father of all teams, tongues, and tribes.
Tommy
Paul’s excited letter to the Ephesians is overwhelmingly hopeful: you are doing better than you think. Ok, maybe your resolutions for 2018 are not doing so good, and bad news fills your social media feeds, and paying your Christmas credit card bill creates anxiety. But God’s initiative through the cross of Christ is creating a beautifully new and exhilarating narrative of good news for you and me. We are being invited to live into the joy of adoption as children of God’s choice and pleasure. You are His delight.
In Ephesians 2:11-22, Paul says the gospel bonds us not only to God, but to one another. The Bible calls this our common life. I want to spur a conversation this Sunday: is the church better seen as a family rather than a shopping mall? Are we better as consumers or siblings? What might change if we considered The River Church an extension of our “family” and we dove deep into responsibility for one another?
Bill
It has been 9 long months of waiting and anticipating the arrival of our baby boy and Tara and I cannot wait to celebrate the arrival of our son in a couple weeks. We are dreaming of walks down the Esplanade and greeting strangers with a smiling baby (babies always smile right?) We are proud of our boy and want everyone to meet him, so they can share in our joy of what we have created. In our passage this week, Ephesians 2:1-10, we hear that all of us are God's handiwork, created to be on display in the world to show the goodness of God for our world. Yet, it is easy to forget this beautiful truth and lose sight of our purpose. This Sunday, as we gather for worship at the beach or at Norris, I pray we will be reminded that God has saved us for a Spirit-empowered life to display the love of Jesus as God's hand-crafted people.
With Joy, Matt (and Tara and B.E.)
Let's get metaphorical:What if you're seeing Van Gogh's Starry Night in black and white? What if you're listening to Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata with a blender on? What if you've mistaken the parking lot tram for the amusement park? What if there's more...like, so much more? Sometime in the middle of the first century Paul of Tarsus carefully, passionately, powerfully, eloquently, and urgently pens the Bible's longest run-on sentence. It's as if he can't get the words out quickly enough; he has something that he desperately wants to tell whoever will listen. He's scribbling in big bold letters:Your reality is not scarcity. Your pain does not prevail. Your diagnosis is unparalleled, incomprehensible empowerment!!! You're doing better than you think.
James
My family just celebrated my dad's 90th birthday up in Seattle. Though the weather was cold and rainy, my father was alive and vital, sharp and witty [even if his legs aren't strong anymore]. He has been an amazing mentor to me, and has passed on his wisdom to countless students through his academic career and church leadership. We loved hearing him recount stories of life, marriage, work, friendship, and hope for the world. He seemed surprised that he had gotten so old, living among a bunch of other old people, but I reminded him that Methuselah is reported to have lived 969 years old, so he was still super young. He models for me the centerpiece of a flourishing life: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." This affirmation is found in Deuteronomy 6 and repeated by Jesus in Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
This invitation helps us step into 2018 with perspective, intentionality, and a posture leaning toward the next generation. What might it look like for our community to be known by an authentic and generous love that dazzles future generations? Let's talk about it on Sunday!
See you at the beach or up at The Norris,
Bill
Merry Christmas!
We're still celebrating the greatest gift of all - Jesus, Immanuel, God with us, who makes all things new. Jesus is God's fully human child, who came into the world so that you and I might also become God's children, adopted into the divine family. Let's celebrate together this Sunday with singing, scripture reading, and communion eating!
See you at the beach or the Norris,
Matt Engle, Tommy Olsen, & Ed Lassiter
The birth of Jesus could not have been more common - an animal feeding trough as incubator. The news of his arrival could not have been revealed to more simple people - shepherds, keeping watch over their flocks at night. Yet angels peal back the curtains of heaven declaring what God thinks of this unique delivery. It is called "good news," the evangel, the gospel. Author Luke intentionally sets Jesus' birth in the social, political, and religious context of the Emperor Caesar Augustus - presumed to be the most powerful person in the world. Yes, Christmas is a wonderful time of year. Lights, family gatherings, carols, shopping [ok, that is not so wonderful], and hot coco fill our minds and hearts with warmth and memories. But the birth of Jesus - called a Savior, the Anointed, the Lord - is God's declaration that he is taking his world back for good. And his initiative requires our response. The shepherds will be our guide. Read Luke 2:1-20 and join Mary is some pondering.
Bill
It’s a glorious season! Emmanuel, our God is with us now. This changes everything. Everything! Mary, resident of backwater Nazareth, probably 12 or 13 years old, was absolutely not ready for the completely insane announcement from the angel Gabriel. Seriously, she was the most unlikely candidate for God’s decision to birth himself into our salvation history and redeem the world. She was a young girl, a virgin, a nobody, no social status, no resources, from nowhere, without clout, nothing without a faithful husband, inexperienced, and more. How will she respond to the announcement that God has chosen her to receive the Son of God as her child, to carry this precious baby to term in her womb? Nothing of this news would make sense in any way at all. Mary struggles, surrenders, and sings the most revolutionary lyrics that have ever passed through human lips. No matter how glorious or inglorious this season is for you, Mary can bring hope, solace, inspiration, and direction for these days of joy, confusion, upheaval, mercy, frustration, and anticipation for you, our church, and our waiting world. Come Sunday and let’s learn from Mary, the mother of our Lord. Her story is found in Luke 1:26-56, a really good read. If you understand Mary, you will get a bigger picture of God.
A big fan of Christmas, Bill
It’s a Glorious Season! And its all about Christ’s glory. I found this old hymn in Magnificat reader says, “O Christ, thou Sun of angels, watch o’er us from heaven above; Fain would our eyes behold thee, Fain would our hearts still love. True Light shines forth! Let darkness far from our souls be thrust. That peace to all flow richly who thee their Savior trust.” I like the part about Jesus thrusting darkness from our souls. Darkness cannot shroud the glory of Christ this Christmas. Luke begins his gospel in a unique way. He tells the story of Jesus through the eyes of Mary. Mary will be the one to carry the Christ child into the world. The Spirit will come upon her and she will be impregnated with the the Holy One. I want to talk about glory. Christ’s glory filling the earth. Mary was both in awe and perplexed as she was confronted with the glory of Christ as we are. It’s being able to see His glory in both the good times as well as the fearful times.
As we will wrap up our study of Acts for the year, I am struck by the powerful impact that this new band of Jesus followers had on their culture. Clearly Christianity was still in the minority. Few comparatively had given their lives over to this Jesus messiah figure. They rubbed their fellow Jews the wrong way. Herod was on their tail. It was the moment of truth. It could have all come crumbling down if they had scattered and deserted. But they didn't. They grew resolute in forming real community. And that, along with the powerful force of the Holy Spirit pushed them forward to greater adventures. Will we join them?
Todd
Change is usually hard … difficult change is often good change. Ask the caterpillar and butterfly. One is stuck in the weeds and the other gets to soar. I get stuck in the weeds a lot, but long to soar.
God is relentlessly determined that his bride, the church would shine in such a way that every person would know the refreshing love and forgiveness found only in Jesus. God will polish and buff out the dullness, the rough edges, the blind spots, and even the stubbornness … if we will let him. I am pretty stubborn, like my comfort, and my ordered life. But the most enjoyably fruitful times of change and growth have come when my story intersected with the story of an unlikely teacher.
That is what happened to Peter … and Cornelius, and Luke tells their stories in Acts 10. Read them for yourself, then let’s join together this Sunday and consider how their stories live on in ours.
Bill
Acts 9: Better Call Saul!
Yes, that's my title; yes, I'm stoked to have an excuse to use it in a sermon; and yes, it sort-of fits. This entire series has been about God-initiated, God-sustained, and God-accomplished massive ministry adventures. We've been talking a bunch about verbs: "jumping," "pushing," "going-standing-telling." This past couple months you've heard buckets of talk about great expectations from, for, and of our God. That's just what you get when you open your Bibles to Acts, your hands to one another, and your hearts to the Holy Spirit (I'm all about the lists of 3 in this blurb). THIS WEEK we try to wrap our heads and hearts around perhaps the most dramatic call of God in the entire sacred story-the calling of Saul/Paul of Tarsus. In this episode, we are going to behold radical metamorphosis of desire, harrowing disillusionment, and a massive re-direction of momentum. And you know we're going to be asking some big questions about our journey in life and with the Lord!
James
There are feelers and there are thinkers. Which are you? I am definitely a thinker. I am in no way suggesting that one is right and the other is wrong. It's just the way in which we approach life. In Acts chapter 8, Phillip meets Simon the magician. He's a feeler. He's attracted by the signs and wonders. He wants the power of God. Phillip also meets the Ethiopian Eunuch. This man is a thinker. Phillip discovers him reading the Isaiah scrolls contemplating this God he's reading about. Through the leading of the Holy Spirit, both meet Jesus.
Todd
When's the last time you heard a pastor say, "Get Into Trouble" at church? It's my first point this weekend. What can I say? I'm a renegade at heart. Can't help it. I'm not a deserter. I don't betray. But, I do like this portion of the definition: a person who behaves in a rebelliously unconventional manner. I've tried to hide it my whole life because I felt judged. Here's the deal. I don't like fake Christians. I don't like Christian talk. I don't like saying "I love you" to a dude, I don't like church services that are goofy church services. Give it to me real, medium rare. I've said it before but I'm often more comfortable around non church goers because they don't pretend to be anything more than who they really are. And I'm not throwing anyone under the bus here. If the shoe fits. I'm the first one who has to check his pretension quotient. That's why I love (Ha!) Stephen. He's my man. I've been thinking a lot about him. Not too cool to serve tables of widows and orphans. Not too scared to stand up to a bunch of religious bigots. He wasn't a crowd pleaser. He said it like it was. If Jesus is our one and only God in the flesh, savior, messiah, and resurrected Lord, then so be it. No pretense. This got Stephen into trouble and cost him his life. I can't say we all will lose our life like Stephen, but I will say God uses certain individuals to get a mass movement going. Certain individuals. But the rest of us can join in on the movement.
Todd
One tiny act of kindness could have a far reaching impact somewhere else in the world. That's what I want to talk about this weekend. In Acts 6, the first seven verses, our early church has a problem. Growing churches usually do. Their needs are greater than their administration. Widows of some of the Jewish converts were being overlooked. Now you might say, in the big scheme of things, is that really important? It is, organizationally and for greater impact of the gospel. Watching eyes were following this early church. Stories were being told. People wanted to know what kind of people these Christians were. Our internal issues always impact our external effectiveness. That's where YOU come in. Yes, you. The early church figured out a way to divide the work of ministry among it's own people and the church flourished. Not just anyone but godly, growing, Spirit filled believers who step into leadership not because they have to but because they want to. Howard Hendricks, once a seminary prof at Dallas Seminary said that the reason these people are to be vetted so carefully, according the Apostle Paul, is because the function is so determinative. Be careful who you pick, they will be around a long time and you must live with your product. He's talking about you. Here's the crazy part of the story. These people started out serving widows and turned into the future leaders of the church. One tiny act of kindness had far reaching impact somewhere else in the world.
See you Sunday.
Todd
The early followers of Jesus, revealed in the book of Acts, were a people on the move. Why? Because God is a God of forward momentum. He is always moving his people into the new … new relationships, new challenges, new opportunities, and new ways of stepping into new life. God is for life – in all its beautiful fullness. The River wants to be caught up in this momentum, this swiftwater journey with the Holy Spirit as our trustworthy guide. But danger lurks because an enemy wants to destroy. The adventure of following Jesus is full of obstacles and even opposition, some of it intense. But on Sunday, we will discover good news: with God there are no closed doors. Read Acts 5 to see the story. I hope to see you at the beach or up at The Norris Pavilion.
If something is worth doing, if it is important to you, there will be obstacles. Nothing worth doing comes without a price. Getting up just a bit earlier to sit with God, read his word comes with a price. Taking a week night or an early morning to be with like minded Christ followers comes with a price. Sharing your faith with a neighbor comes with a price. I will never forget hearing these words as a college student from the late Jim Elliot, a missionary, a young college graduate from Wheaton College, a young man just married with a new bride. He said, “He is no fool to give up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” So what’s worth sacrificing losing something to gain something to you? Your freedom? Your relationship with Christ? His name being glorified through your life? Jim Elliot was martyred for his faith in South America after writing those words. The mass murder of 59 innocent people, half of them from California, and the severe wounding of close to 500 and the traumatizing of close to 30,000 concert goers has reminded us of what is most valuable to us. We value our families, our relationships. But to live for what is most important, we have to overcome the obstacles. They stand in our way of what is really worth living for. Acts 3-5:16 is a super long section of Acts that we plan to look at this weekend. I have one big point. Obstacles often cause us to say we “can’t”. I can’t get through this. I can’t meet that need. I can’t. Holy Spirit living for our early church members meant turning a can’t into a can, breaking through the obstacles to stand for what is most important. That’s our job as a church as well. See you Sunday.
Todd
Greetings honored reader of the River blurb! In our scriptural excursion this Sunday, we will embark on a guided tour through the picturesque narrative landscape of Acts, before refreshing in the relational day spa that is Acts 2 and 4. Along the way we will behold an often-overlooked and beautifully non-glamorous divine innovation: the miracle of the local church. Together we will seek to learn from our ancient ancestors in the faith how we might authentically and sustainably live and share the gospel in and through community. This Sunday will combine music, preaching, personal reflection, interaction, and some good ol’ fashioned real life!
-James
Unstoppable Forward Momentum only happens when the object begins to move forward. I'm no physics expert but it doesn't take Einstein to tell us that nothing's moving forward until it gets pushed. I often don't want that push. Nope. Not going forward. Don't want it. I like where I am. I've got a good book in my hand or the newest game on my phone. Maybe a podcast queued up. Or just a nap. My favorite spot these days is on my old brick front patio overlooking the ocean with the pot belly stove fired up as the sun is setting. But God can't change the world that way and if I sit too long, it's hard on my back. Whether you chose to sit it out or decide to get in the game, God is moving forward with our without you. And what I've discovered is that I'm missing out. There is a whole big world out there and something inside me is reminding me that this is where it's at. The greatest fulfillment in life is out there. Will I go? Will you go? Are you even willing? Acts 2 is about the push.
See you Sunday.
Todd
Introduction to Acts 2 and a reading of the chapter in preparation for Sunday's sermon.
Introduction to Acts 2 and a reading of the chapter in preparation for Sunday's sermon.
On August 6, in the year 1651, Francois de Salignac de La Mothe-Fenelon was born in a small village in France. He would have been unknown to us if it were not his bold, tenacious, and magnetic faith in Christ which earned him the highest honor in the Louis the XIV's court. He lived out his faith in France with such dignity and eloquence that one would write, "His eloquence was winning rather than vehement." Fenelon impacted many people in France. His faith was intoxicating. What makes a person attractive like that? We are about to start a very exciting new series through the book of Acts. It's the earliest account we have of the early church and it's powerful influence in the Romana empire at the turn of the century. It all starts with a proclamation. Acts 1:8 says, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." The entire world will be different when the Holy Spirit comes upon Jesus followers who move forward in their faith, gaining new ground by loving people and living out faith with a fiery and attractive force unknown to man. It's an unstoppable force. Unstoppable Forward Momentum begins now.
See you Sunday, Todd
The Church over the ages has been through more remodels than most of your homes. We’ve experienced the high church. We've seen the new fad worship style church. We dropped Sunday school hour for adults. We’ve updated from donuts and coffee to croissants and lattes. We’ve added smoke, banners, flag wavers. We even tried painting in church. That was short lived. Why would someone paint in the corner while a sermon is being preached? The big churches have steadily grown, adding restaurants, lakes, landing pads, and children centers that rival Lego Land. Other churches have chosen to divide and meet at separate locations. We call that multi siting. The church now can meet in a bar, a school, an industrial building, and even on a beach, maybe your home! Through all the changes, the church that Jesus promised to inhabit is still God’s church on earth. It’s the only institution that Jesus established on this earth that Jesus started. And if he started it, it’s the place He is best seen. And through it all, there is still one fundamental objective for the church - BE SALT AND LIGHT FOR THE WORLD. Matthew 5:13-16 will be our text this weekend as we look at where the River is headed and how we become salt and light for the world around us. Here’s my premise that may entice you to join us. The church fully alive, fully functioning and fully committed is the church of salt and light. When the church sparkles, hums and delivers, we add flavor and hope.
Todd
This weekend, I would like to speak to you about what I learned this summer. I went into the summer pretty much toast and can honestly say I feel refreshed. From toast to refreshed. How did that happen? By the way, if I still felt like toast, I would honestly have told you that as well. I'm not sugar coating this. How do we go from 0 to 60 or 55? By acceleration? Or gradual? I felt like my friend and writer, John Ortberg, who said, "I am disappointed with myself...I have a nagging sense that all is not as it should be." Ever felt like you have missed out on the life you were appointed by God to live? We have several problems. One is thinking that a single decision seals the deal. The other is thinking that our spiritual lives are separate from the rest of our life. But it really is possible to live the life God has for you. CS Lewis reminds us, "It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses..." Lewis is talking about the fact that every person has the god-given potential of becoming a beautiful creature of sorts. We aren't ordinary. We have the potential for more. See you Sunday.
I suspect I'll be back at it for part 2 next week as well. Then we begin a very exciting series on the Holy Spirit from the book of Acts. It's about the powerful presence of the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of our first century brothers and sisters. Capture the Spirit, live in the moment and watch God work. That's essentially what Acts is about.
Todd
If you've lived a bit, it doesn't take long to realize that life has a way of bringing unexpected challenges, or opportunities as some would say. They come in all shapes and sizes! As you look at this season, have you faced something insurmountable? Perhaps a task or situation felt bigger than you? Gideon, from Judges 6-8, is a great example of this, and what he does to face his own situation is something we can all learn from. Soren Kerkegaard once said, "A person's greatest achievement is to let God help him/her". Let's begin by asking God to help us!
Angel Ruiz
Doubting Thomas. Not a great nickname for a disciple of Jesus, but this is usually the nickname we associate with Thomas. However, there is so much more to Thomas. As I hope to show this weekend, Thomas was a radical follower of Jesus; so radical in fact, John's gospel account highlights his confession as the ultimate confession of faith amongst all the disciples. And like all radical followers of Jesus, we learn through Thomas more about the personhood of Jesus and our purpose in the world.
Matt
This summer we have received an up-close look at the people that God puts to work. I hope you have been surprised, encouraged, and intrigued at the character of our God and the nature of God's work in the world. This week we will look at Elizabeth. She only appears in the first chapter of the gospel of Luke, but she plays a hugely significant role in God's Kingdom. Therefore, do not be misled by her little press coverage from the biblical authors; she is a person we all should emulate. Her strong conviction and steadfast faithfulness make her the perfect person for God to put to work to accomplish God's plan of salvation for the whole world.
Matt
It is one thing to stand on the shore at Torrance Beach and dream of surfing big waves, or stand up paddling, or sailing off to Catalina and beyond. It is a very different experience to actually move out into deeper water where we are confronted with bigger surf, bigger wind, and bigger fish. This is the call of Jesus to Simon Peter in Luke 5. The invitation of Jesus consistently prompts us to move from shallow into deeper water as we follow him as a disciple. It will be scary, but the thrill is worth it. Our all beach service will include what Peter did, welcoming home our Hume Lake students and staff, their testimonies, and baptisms.
Bill
Last year, I saw the coolest thing at one of the millions of Redondo Beach 5K's: while the masses ran in one direction, three people dressed in trout costumes were running in the opposite direction through the crowd of joggers. Ha! What a cool shenanigan! Running upstream; against the grain; defying the agreed-upon marathon mores. This weekend as we meet a few of the fascinating folks in the Apostle Paul's ministry network, we meet a mismatched, passionate team running in a very different direction than the ancient Mediterranean masses! Where were they going? Why where they going? And what does any of it have to do with us? Join us on the beach or at Norris as we meet meet St. Paul's motley ministry crew! The rebel inside you will be glad you did :)
James
We know him as St. Paul; the first followers of Jesus to meet him knew him as the paramount threat to the strange and socio-politically vulnerable movement that would eventually be described as "Christianity." You can hear them now: "Him?! He's going to be the one used by God to bring about perhaps the greatest quantum leap forward in the Jesus movement since Jesus' own resurrection?! ...it can't be! This Sunday, let's consider the life of Saul/Paul of Tarsus and reflect on the strange, unmistakable, and sooooooo God way of using the ugly, misdirected, and toxic pieces of our past to bring His beauty, peace and glory into the present!
James
Are you able to rejoice when others succeed and you don't? How about when someone takes your place in the starting lineup, a colleague gets the promotion you've longed for or a good friend gets into the college you've dreamt about for years? How do you respond? In my senior year I distinctly remember being moved to second chair (by a sophomore) in concert band, and Tommy being moved up to drum major with me. It killed my pride. Though I got over it, at the time it was very painful. What's your response when someone surpasses you... especially when it's a friend? Come see how we can learn to be a remarkable responder like Jonathan, David's homeboy, when we keep God's bigger picture in mind. Read 1 Samuel 18-20 in preparation.
Jazz
You know that little feeling in the pit of your stomach when you know something’s right or wrong and you know what you need to do? Have you noticed that over time as you make choices you know you need to make the sensitivity in your spirit grows a little greater? And that when you get in the habit of making the choice you know you shouldn’t make, after a while the sensitivity dims?
Why is that? And what does that have to do with Daniel and all of the miraculous things God used Him for in Babylon?
A radical is someone who affects the fundamental nature of something; it is profound, far reaching, and major. This week we are going to hear about a woman who fits this description. She takes a bold step of faith to affect the outcome for herself and her family. There is always risk and cost when we move out in faith. Why did she do this? How did it impact her future? And our future?
Janie
Jeremiah was a rascal: outcast for speaking truth to power with his poems portraying impending doom. He was also a renegade: arrested, beaten, and imprisoned for allegedly trying to desert his people. Third, he was a radical: calling his people to turn from their idols and remember the Lord their God. Lastly, Jeremiah was a bullfrog! (Just kidding….though, he is a good friend of mine!)
See you Sunday, Tommy
God’s plan is to put people to His good work, whether you are a rascal, a renegade, or a radical. Whether you believe it or not, you are in God’s sights for ultimate good – for your flourishing, for your neighbors, your family, our nation, the world. God has a plan to put the world to rights, and He does it through people of character who have been spiritually formed through trial. This Sunday we consider the story of Joseph in Genesis, and we’ll be encouraged to see there is nothing that can stop God’s good plan, even if it hurts along the way. He might help you find your part in the big story.
Bill
My natural inclination is to walk around, by, or even over certain kinds of people. I don't want to do that. I know all people need one thing- Jesus. Then I read John 4 and I am humbled at the intentionality and the simplicity of Jesus' presentation to this woman who is alone at a well in the middle of the day. He simply offered her living water and she took it. Why did she take it? What do we learn from this account? If I look too deep into her eyes, I am afraid I might see her real need, her pain, her anguish. I might be drawn in. God forbid I take the time to show concern for a person society has discarded. This encounter might shape the way we do church. See you Sunday as we explore John 4.
Todd
The final scene fades out, the film overture fills in, and the credits roll. Most of us head for the exit in hopes of beating the crowd. This Sunday, we're going to ask you to just sit for a moment and drink it all in. The credit reel concluding Paul's letter to the Romans just might be the most powerful answer to the biggest question many have asked about this network/gathering/thing we call "church." Why bother gather together on Sundays? What is this thing we do? Most importantly, why are we even here on this planet at a time called today??? Join us for this final chapter of Romans wherein Paul shows us the big fat "Why."
James
If you heard the words, “I want to tell you what I really think of you”, what would be your reaction? Oh no, here it comes. I’m going to get it now. What if the next words were so encouraging, so uplifting, that you look behind you just to be sure this person was speaking to you. You talking to me? The Apostle Paul, in a rare autobiographical moment, shares his heart with the church of Rome. He affirms, encourages, and expects much of the church. He pours on the encouragement. We all need encouragement. This section of Romans gets at Paul’s WHY. Simon Synek has this theory that companies that can answer why they exist do better than those that just know what they do or how they do it. It’s the difference between Apple and Microsoft. One sells computers. The other sells life enhancing experiences. Interesting thought. Not sure I totally buy into his theory. Forbes pushes back on this. But I do believe answering the why do I exist question is a good one. Paul would say, according to Romans 15:4-33, I exist to encourage the heck out of the Gentile world to embrace Jesus as the sole answer for the longing of their souls. Everything he did was about pouring on words of encouragement to the secular world around him. Go into the world and encourage people. Lift them up. Speak life and truth into their lives. This is not some pop psychology technique attempting to gloss over the real condition of people’s hearts and destinies. It’s a way into people’s hearts with the love of Christ, the center of the gospel. Paul reveals his strategy of encouragement in our passage for this weekend.
Todd
I remember being young and feeling powerless. I used to feel weak. I attended a private school during my early years of education and I remember being challenged by a kid half my size. There were a hand full of kids standing around watching. We all stood in a circle in our navy blue slacks and light blue shirts, dark shoes and sweaters looking at each other. He lunged at me and took me down. It ended quickly but I didn’t defend myself. I lived with that sense of inadequacy for years. What’s it like to feel weak and powerless in terms of your faith? Paul calls on the strong in faith to help the weak in Romans 15. He continues this theme that began in chapter 14 but now instead of not judging others, bear up another’s burdens. Go the extra mile and understand what’s it like from their perspective to struggle with a sense of insecurity, living from a sense of duty to be found approved by God. Get into their world. It’s the scene in Lord of the Rings where you see Samwise reaching out to help carry Frodo’s burden. Frodo is weak. He is carrying a huge burden that is weighing him down but he can’t unload it. He won’t unload it. Samwise is wiling to risk his life for his friend. What are you willing to do for a brother or sister who feels powerless, weak in their faith?
Todd
Romans 14 is the weaker brother/ sister passage. Paul is not implying that because one of us is weak in faith and the other is strong in faith that somehow one is superior to the other. We are not in competition with one another. Paul extends his concept of love to the one newer to faith. That's the weaker brother/sister. And in this case, this person is still learning to settle into walking in the vast freedom we have in Christ to navigate life. It's a lot like school children. They are taught to stay close to the rules as young children. As they mature, there is more freedom to make their own wise decisions. Be loving. Others may not be as comfortable with freedom in Christ as you. Yield to the weaker brother or sister for the sake of Christ.
Todd
We love the law when it catches the thief, but not so much when its red lights demand we pull over. Paul tells us in Romans 13:1 [our text for Sunday] that we are to “be subject to the governing authorities.” Two words stand out: government and authority. Questions are prompted. Why should we submit to authority? What happens if I just ignore authority? What is the proper role of authority? Are there some limits to authority?
Our little Jesus community is learning how to love well in a culture of pain and hardship. Paul won’t let us off the hook, and we have to learn how to love our government. But it is not as simple and straightforward as it sounds. Let’s open up this can of worms.
Bill
Love—we want it bad! Our Spotify/Pandora/iTunes playlists are full of songs begging for it; for 21 seasons a Bachelor or Bachelorette have been narrowing down options in search of it; and every February 14 th we torment ourselves to get those flowers and restaurant reservations in celebration of it. Its flavors vary wildly from person to person and culture to culture, yet we all seem to be after it. And there it sits, showcased in the epicenter of one of Paul’s most majestic ancient letters. Join us this Sunday as we sample it in Romans 12 and ask the questions, “What does true love taste like?” and, “How does our love taste?”
James
We begin a new series this weekend - Romans 12-16- Loving Well in a Culture of Pain and Hardship. Our world does not need a lecture. It needs love. People are divided, scared, and uncertain. What's it like to be Muslim in America? What's it like to be gay and desire to know what a relationship with God looks like? What about being single and wanting to be married, divorced and feeling alone, maybe hurting in a marriage, an inmate and wondering if God will ever forgive me, a refugee who's lost everything, or as my dear friend in NYC, Paul, says, a person of color ? What the world needs now is love sweet love. It's the only thing there's just too little of. So let's talk love. We begin by understanding our role - be unrelenting in your devotion, be daily transformed, and be always willing to serve others.
Todd
The lesson of the cross is a profound paradox: the path to wholeness, growth, and glory is so often one of suffering. Put differently, the cross teaches us that God doesn't waste an ounce of our pain. God is in the business of turning our hurts into glory, our ashes into beauty, our dark nights into a brilliant sunrise. In the days leading up to Easter, we are going to explore this ancient wisdom as we see it painted in your living portraits. Each week we will listen to a compelling story from a member of our community; a story lived out in the shadow of the cross. This Sunday we have the privilege of hearing from Rosaline Shoemaker.
The lesson of the cross is a profound paradox: the path to wholeness, growth, and glory is so often one of suffering. Put differently, the cross teaches us that God doesn't waste an ounce of our pain. God is in the business of turning our hurts into glory, our ashes into beauty, our dark nights into a brilliant sunrise. In the days leading up to Easter, we are going to explore this ancient wisdom as we see it painted in your living portraits. Each week we will listen to a compelling story from a member of our community; a story lived out in the shadow of the cross.
James and John pose a very sensible request to the man they are convinced is God's miracle-working, truth-revealing, freedom-fighting agent on this earth. In his Gospel, Mark lets us sit in on the conversation (Mark 10:35-38):
James and John: "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you."
Jesus: "What do you want me to do for you?"
James and John: "Grant that we may sit, one on your right and one on your left, in your glory."
This is a very natural, reasonable, human request. These Jesus-followers wanted their lives to have significance; they desired meaning; they wanted to fellowship with the Lord in His glory. Don't we all want that? And then there's Jesus' poetically powerful response:
Jesus: "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?"
As we find out a few chapters later, that "cup"-the pathway to glory and significance-was the "cup" of suffering; the very cup about which Jesus cries, "Abba! Father...remove this cup from me; yet not what I will, but what you will" (Mark 14:36). The disciples wanted purpose and fulfillment; Jesus understood that the road to this was not ease, but suffering. To both ancient and modern ears this is a profound paradox: God doesn't waste an ounce of our suffering. He is in the business of turning our pain into glory, our ashes into beauty. In the next three weeks leading up to Easter, we are going to explore this ancient wisdom as we see it painted in your living portraits. Each week we will listen to a compelling story from a member of our community.
I’m a starter. It’s much harder for me to finish things. I start books. I start home improvement projects. I buy bags of dried fruits and nuts and often don’t finish them. That one drives my wife nuts (no pun intended). But one thing I have seemed to figure out is how to keep moving forward in my faith. I’m not done yet but I’m still at it. My faith in Christ began years ago as a young adolescent when I gave my life to Christ on a beach in San Onofre. Though the principle of undulation would best characterize my faith development, I am still going. And like Caleb, I am as strong today as I was in my youth. I can’t say that for a lot of things but I can say that about my faith. As Joshua wraps up his comments to Israel, he reminds them of the key to longevity in the land. It’s three things. Arriving is one thing, staying there is another. See you Sunday as we explore three ways to live long and large in the land God has given you.
Todd
Is there a greater refreshment and joy than receiving mercy and kindness from a friend you have wronged? Forgiveness and its protection fill us with hope and a spiritual vitality that overflows our cities like tributaries in a dry and thirsty land. One of the things I love best about The River Church is the way you all take the mercy and hope of Jesus into your neighborhoods, schools, coffee houses, gyms, offices, social media, beaches and more. We are Moving Forward With God in Joshua this Sunday learning how to help our cities become places of refuge and vitality. Get a head start by reading Joshua 20-21.
Looking forward to seeing you Sunday, Bill
We talk about leaving a legacy. Don’t we? But what does that really mean? We hope it's more than money. Right? We hope we are leaving behind a pathway for our kids, a contribution to our church and faith in Christ, an impact in the lives of others that will outlive our relatively short lives. But how and what constitutes a good legacy? In Josh 13-19, we are re-introduced to Caleb, one of the two spies who believed that God was giving the Israelites the land. He never lost faith. He was one of two. And now at the end of his life, he does something extraordinary. He could have had the pick of the land. What do you want Caleb the faithful? Green meadows? Running water? Build-able land sites for your family farm? Nope. He wants the hill country where the descendants of the giants live. What? Give me the giants, he says. At 85 the guy is dreaming big. He’s running hard into the finish line. He was up for one more big battle. I want to live like that.
See you this Sunday.
Todd
Have you ever really needed to make a move on something in your life? To get after it? To finally roll off your blessed tuchus and lean into some serious movement in your life? This week we are going to learn a lesson from the people of Israel as they behold God making some big, fat, unmistakable moves in their reality. This Sunday, get on up, grab that coffee/tea/bowl of Trix, and bring a list of some big, fat, beautiful moves you would like to trust God for this season. We are getting after it this Sunday!
bigfatbeautifulGodmoves!!!
James
This week I attended a small gathering to hear the story behind the “Woman In Gold”, the Klimt painting of Adele Bloch Bauer which was painted in Vienna in 1907. Our honored guest was Peter Altmann, one of the few remaining heirs to receive a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the Klimt paintings just a few years back. He told a wonderful story of his mother who fought for years to recover the paintings for the sake of the family. It was a story of Jewish struggle during the war and a story of recovering what was lost. It was a true life story of what it was like for the Jews to have lost everything they owned at the hands of a powerful evil force. So much lost. So many lives lost. It was struggle against an pure evil that was out for their destruction. In Joshua 9 and 10, we are reminded that this was true of Israel as well. The Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites and every other established enclave in the region were hostile toward this new clan moving into the neighborhood. It was all out war. Not much different from our situation. Right? War is upon us. The evil one is out to destroy us. And he does not fight fair. He does not announce himself nor reveal his strategies. Join us Sunday as we discover the parallels between Israel’s warfare and our spiritual warfare.
Todd
Chuck Swindoll once wrote a book entitled, "Three Steps Forward Two Steps Back." I always liked that idea, forward momentum yet a few steps backward along the way. It seems to make more sense to me. I have that old book somewhere. Maybe it's in the garage. Maybe it's in the storeroom in a box. I may not be able to put my hand on the book but I will never forget its impact when I read it nearly 20 years ago. Joshua 7 is about taking a couple steps backwards as we move forward. In chapter 7 we get a glimpse into Israel's first major military defeat. We also get the recipe to recover after defeat. The secret to forward momentum is not falling, it's getting back up. If you have lived the Christian life long enough you know exactly what I'm talking about. It's messy. It's a struggle. Yet there is a way forward. And be assured, God has something far better for us when we recover.
See you Sunday as we explore three steps forward and two steps back.
Todd
Marathon runners know what it is like “hitting the wall” near mile 18, regretting they skimped on hydration at the first water station. I remember hitting the wall once, but it was the center field fence, in between the ball and my glove as I sprinted to catch before it became a home run. I “bonked!” When you move forward into your preferred future, it’s inevitable you will confront immovable walls. The elite athlete will tell you the secret to avoiding a crash is your discipline before you see the wall. The lessons transfer to our spiritual journey. Joshua, nearing the closed up city gates of Jericho, shows us three moves we can take before we hit our own walls. Want to read the story—it’s in Joshua 5:13-6:27.
Bill
“Sooooooo he wants us to stack rocks and do what to our whats!?!?” That question had to be trending on whatever version of twitter the tribes of Israel used. At least that’s what I’d be asking. Why the bizarre rituals? Why the strange monuments? Why the stacking? Why the cosmetic surgery? Why all the divinely-prescribed weirdness in Joshua 4–5? Heck, while I’m writing, I’ll ask a bigger question: Why are we reading this narrative of weirdness at all? What does it have to do with our cute, normal little River communities on the beach or at Norris? Let’s get right into the weirdness of it all and, I hope, discover that God never wastes an ounce of weirdness. Not in the story of salvation; not in the story of Joshua; not in the story He’s writing in our lives today. This Sunday, let’s get weird!
James
There comes a time in every person's life when they decide to cross an uncrossable barrier and press into a new day. On that rainy Spring morning, Joshua led the people across the Jordan River. The waters were overflowing onto its banks. God held back the waters just as he had done over 40 years ago on the shore of the Red Sea. Joshua instructed his priests to carry the ark of the covenant to the shoreline. When the priests stepped foot into the rushing river, the waters parted and the people moved forward. It all begins by facing your greatest fear. I don’t want to change a thing. I want to stay where I am on the other side of the river banks. If the people had remained, all of redemptive history would have been altered significantly. But they didn’t. And here we are today honoring and serving the Messiah that was born from God’s redemptive plan that all began with that first step. What is God calling you to do? Will you step forward and cross the uncrossable barrier in your life to a new day? What holds us back? What moves us forward? God has a new day for you. It’s a day filled with more of His presence, His power and His purpose.
Todd
Joshua 2 is the second message in our new series: Moving Forward with God. It’s the story of Rahab and her faith. She is a Canaanite woman who is identified as a prostitute. She is a member of this Jericho community. The men sent to spy out the land, the promised land, the land of rest, meet Rahab and she she readily acknowledges her faith in their God. She has a lot to lose in this transaction. Why would she do this? She could no longer live in this Canaanite community nor could she consciously and morally continue her practice of prostitution. It represented a complete break from the past and new beginning of walking with God. Rahab also reminds us that no one, not even a Canaanite prostitute is out of the loving embrace of this new community of faith. It’s an invitation to all, even her. We learn a lot about what faith is and what it’s not from this woman. See you Sunday.
Todd
This year, 2017 marks the beginning of our second decade as a church. What does God have for us? I believe it is something bigger and better. But rather than a destination, a building or a new program, it is a person. It's more of God in our lives. This is what the Israelites didn't see in the story of Joshua. God asked Joshua to lead the people to the promised land, the land of Canaan that was to become the nation of Israel. They focused on the land itself. But it wasn't just about the land. It's what the land signified that mattered. It was supposed to be a place where they would be able to meet with God and see God work in and through their lives. That's the point of Joshua. Go to the land because that's where God is and will work.
We'll be studying this great narrative over the next 7 weeks. It's a compelling story that involves risk, danger, the need for absolute trust, conquests, failures, and eventual success. It's the story of the River. It's every person's personal story. God is inviting us to come with Him to the promised land, a land of blessing, a land of rest, a land that represents His greater presence in our lives so HE can be seen even more clearly in and through us. It's an invitation to something more of what God wants to do in our lives.
Come with us is the theme of 2017. It does involve moving forward. Sorry, we cannot stay where we are. We must move forward to receive more of Him, more of what he has for us. This weekend I plan to introduce the story of Joshua in chapter 1 by describing what it takes to move forward to God's promised land, his rest that he promises us.
Todd