River Church NOLA: Recent Episodes
River Church NOLA
Today is the 5th and final message about Joseph. We have covered a lot of P words while learning some great gospel lessons from this story. So far we have covered the Promise, the Process, the Perfection, and the Path to Penitence. Today, we look at God wonderful provision which will lead to His unthinkable…
You don’t have to be a Rocket Scientist or look around too hard to know that temptation is all over the place. You don’t have to go looking for it, it will find you. Now listen, we are not tempted because we are sinful people… Jesus was tempted and he never sinned. Handled correctly, temptations can…
So far we have covered the Promise, the Perfection, and the Procession . We have learned a lot about the Christian walk from the way God has been dealing with Joseph and the way that Joseph responds. Today we are going to talk about the next “P” which is Penitence . Penitence is interchangeable with…
Have you ever wandered … What Happens When a Christian Sins? Have you ever wondered about that? The devil will tempt us to sin, and he will say, “It’s all right. You can get away with it.” He is the tempter. Then when you sin, he says, “I can’t believe you did that. You will never get away with it.”…
There was this Hell's Angel riding down the road on his motorcycle last winter. He was wearing a leather jacket that had a broken zipper. He finally stopped the bike and thought to himself, "Man, I can't drive anymore with the cold air hitting me in my chest." So he decided to put the coat on backwards…
Last week, we talked about the Promise and the Process . The Promise, Process, Perfection, Procession, Provision, and the Peace … the 6 P’s explain God’s intentions towards us. The (Promise) God’s Promise to you ; His work in our lives including suffering ( Process ); and what that work is producing…
Intro A pastor was visiting a lady who was in the hospital and about to die. Her family was all around and as he had conversation with them, he realized that she was not a Christian. She did not have any assurance that her sins had been forgiven or that Christ was in her heart. So he asked permission…
Turn to the person beside you and tell them you are glad they are in church. Turn to the other one and tell them, they need to be in church. Today we are kicking off a series about the life of Joseph , called Meant for Good . How many of you have had someone do something to you? Yea… all of us. But what…
Intro In the dictionary, Happy means fortunate, enjoying well being and contentment. Some synonyms are glad, cheerful, light-hearted, joyful or even joyous. In the united States we have been pursuing happiness for 248 years. Will Smith made a movie titled The Pursuit of Happiness. We believe we have…
Intro Our culture has become one of talking points where it is “us versus them” and neither side can meet in the middle. Jesus teaches us another way: Go out. Go out and share your testimony, go out and interact with your brothers, go out and share, go out and ask. Become the Word in body as well as…
Joni Erikson Tada Joni was born into an active family. Her dad was an Olympic wrestler. With the example set by her parents, she led an active life growing up and enjoyed swimming, riding horses, hiking, and tennis. O July 30, 1967, at the age of 17, Joni dove into Chesapeake Bay where she misjudged…
ONE DAY MAH GOOD FREN THE MAYOR CALL ME UP, AN HE SAY, "BOUDREAUX,"AH WANT TO 00 HUNT SUM DUCK." SO AH SAY, "O.K. YOUR HONER, AH KNOW A PLACE WHERE THEY GOT BOO-COO- DUCK!" BUT DON'T YOU KNOW; TROSCLAH DONE BORROW MAH BEST DUCK DOG. SO AH HAD TO TAKE BUCK , TIIE MOST STUPID DOG AH GOT. SO WHEN WE GOT…
Intro One of the greatest mental and emotional needs we have is to feel valuable… that our life matters… that we are worthwhile and that we made a difference. Life cycle - start work… build a career and or wealth… then start trying to do something that matters. In our society today, we typically find…
Story of Daniel and his friends being brought out of their nation, their culture. Daniel and his friends stayed true to their faith and enjoyed the culture and influenced it. Most people today think we have to choose sides… either give in to the culture or live a life if faith. As we look at Daniel,…
Kathy and I have always been interested in One thing in ministry - changed lives. We want to see lives changed by the Power of the Holy Spirit every day and every week. That’s what God does. God is in the Life changing business… He’s transforming lives. 2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world,…
We just celebrated Independance day for the USA. We celebrated the birth of the greatest nation in history. This nation was based on a Judeo Christian belief system. 22 For the Lord is our judge, our lawgiver, and our king. He will care for us and save us. From this verse we can see that even our form…
Thursday is Independence Day for us here in America. We live in the greatest nation in this history of the world and it’s because our founders based it on both the Bible and a Judeo Christian belief system. What I want to do is look briefly at the parallels between the United States’ founding fathers’…
Into How many of you would like to live the greatest life possible? Life kind of works like a Bell Curve. You grow in peaks and valleys and peaks and valleys… Businesses start up with a lot of energy and growth and then plateau and then often decrease. It’s the same with our health. You get stronger…
How many here today have ever wanted to get revenge for something that someone did to you? Most of us right… the others are lying. Sometimes, revenge is sought after by those who have been hurt by someone else… or even spouses. One older lady in life who was dumped by her husband – poured gallons of…
Jesus was a story teller. He told stories that we call Parables. He would use something familiar to to the people he was talking to and give it a new twist. These stories always pointed to a spiritual truth that we can learn from to make our lives work better. The parable we will look at today actually…
Fathers Day – We tend to minimize fathers in todays society. But 1/3 of children live in a fatherless home. These kids make up: 63% of all youth suicides. 70% of juveniles in state treatment facilities 71% of HS drop outs 75% of chemical abuse patients 80% of drug users 80% of anger driven rapist 85%…
Have you ever felt like you take 1 step forward and then sometimes 2 steps backward. You wake up in the morning with good intentions... thinking that today will be different... but it never is. Somehow, you fall back into your old ways and habits. You really do want to do what’s best, but you end up…
Intro I want to talk about being an agent of Mercy tonight. If you think about it, mercy impacts every area of our lives. We have received mercy from God. When we show mercy to other people, it’s actually an act of worship. It shows you love God. When we show mercy, it’s an act of fellowship that brings…
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle studied to be a physician. After completing his studies, he established a medical partnership with a friend. It did not go well, and they soon parted ways. Shortly afterward, he opened his own practice. Initially, he had very few patients, and to pass away the long, boring days,…
When I first gave my life to the Lord I was excited. I wanted to grow closer to the Lord, but I really didn’t know how. I began reading the Bible but I didn’t really understand what it was saying at the moment. Any one with me so far? So I would read a chapter ad then go back and read the chapter over…
last week we touched on the Holy Spirit and learned that he is a gift to us from God. It makes me wonder, What’s the worst gift you have ever received? 1. Garbage Can Ensemble - Never give a woman any kind of household appliance or something that is going to make "housework" easier. Ie: Garbage can ensemble…
Today is Pentecost Sunday . It the day we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit to the Early Church to STAY. Some churches recognize it as being part of the Christian Calendar with no relevance for today. I was raised in a good church, but it was a church that didn’t really celebrate Pentecost like…
If you could be anyone for a day, who would you be? Would you choose to be the President of the United States? a famous musician? an athlete? etc. Most of us would want to be someone who is successful. It is important to realize that successful people did not become successful over night. A great musician…
Did you hear about the new TV Reality show coming this Fall? Here is the plot. Six married men will be dropped on an island with one car and 4 kids each for 6 weeks. Each kid plays 2 sports and either takes music or dance lessons. There is no access to fast food. Each man must take care of his four kids.…
A man in Spokane (Mr. Russell) had arranged for the minister from Fourth Memorial church to have his wedding. The day came and the minister didn't. The minister sent a replacement. The man was upset, and never forgot the incident. 30 years later Carolyn had a garage sale. My mother was there helping.…
A lot of people read a prover each day to coincide with the day of the month that it is. Today would be Proverbs 1 … I would recomend you do that because there is so much wisdom in the book of Proverbs. Solomon states the purpose of the Proverbs right from the beginning. Look at Pro 1:1-7 1 These are…
Intro We are in week 4 of the series How to Deal with How you feel . Today we will look at the emotion of anger. In a 2018 Gallup Survey , 1/5 Americans reported feeling anger a lot. All you have to do is to look at whatever your choice of social media to see that Americans are angry . An Atlantic Article…
If we were to go down memory lane, some of the most listened to songs are about feelings… and many are about feeling sad or depressed. Hooked on a feeling, You’ve lost that loving feeling, Peaceful Easy feeling, Then there is one from my high school days… Baby Baby don’t get hooked on me… Never date…
Intro When I moved to BR, I was alone and lonely. I got an apartment with a BR, Kitchen, Bath and a den area. My furniture was the back-porch furniture from my parent’s house. I guess my mom got some that was better. My kitchen table was an old cafeteria table the hospital where my dad worked threw away.…
We want to talk about forgiveness tonight. Does anyone beside myself struggle sometimes with forgiveness? Maybe like me, some of you don’t feel like you can be or are forgiven. We know it in our head, but we just don’t feel like it inside - sometimes. Maybe someone has offended you. It’s hard to forgive…
Many years ago, there were some soldiers who were fighting a forest fire. They were fighting it but had become surrounded by flames. Just then a plane flew over them flying very low to the ground and dropped notes that were weighted down onto the area where the soldiers were located. The note stated…
It’s Easter and sometime people will say, how can you come up with a new Easter message every year. I mean it’s the same story… it doesn’t change. It’s kind of like all the different Titanic movies… in each one of them, the Titanic sinks. Easter is the same no matter how you tell the story but, I love…
If you were asked to describe our world in one word, would you choose the word “peaceful” ? Probably not. I’m guessing there are a lot of other words that come to mind before peaceful. Your list may include words like chaotic, broken, unstable, frightening, or disintegrating. As a nation, we've lost…
Intro 28 After telling this story, Jesus went on toward Jerusalem, walking ahead of his disciples. 29 As he came to the towns of Bethphage and Bethany on the Mount of Olives, he sent two disciples ahead. 30 “Go into that village over there,” he told them. “As you enter it, you will see a young donkey…
We are two weeks away from Easter and I am teaching a few weeks on the importance of reaching out to those around us. Last week, I preached on becoming Salt and Light in a Dark World . Today the message is Look Around. If you think about how good it feels to know that you have been forgiven of everything…
I believe that God wants us to make a difference in our families, our work places and our world. How does he want to do that? He wants us to be his witnesses. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem,…
Intro Welcome to RC again. We are glad you are hear. If you are watching online, we appreciate you watching. We would love for you to be here in person. We are in the last week of the Book of James. We will do some more book studies in the future. James is the most practical book in the NT. What he writes…
Intro Final message in the It’s Complicated series. Our theme verse for this series has been… 21 Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. 22 Claiming…
Intro Week 8 of the Book o fJames James is such a practical book. James is the brother of Jesus and he is a Pastor. He is the pastor of the church of Jerusalem. Many people are scattered just like today since COVID. Many folks have never come back to church (anywhere) or even gone back to work. So James…
Intro We are in a series title “It’s Complicated, but it doesn’t have to be.” 5 lies - which was a purity and living a pure life. NW - How to Heal toxic relationships. Boudreaux - B asked his wife Marie, if I die, are you going to get remarried. She said Baby, I don’t want to talk about that, but he…
13 Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” 14 How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. 15 What you ought…
Intro Series called it’s complicated but it doesn’t have to be complicated if we do it God’s way. The series titled kind of defines what our relationships look like, not only at home but at work and in really every relationship we have. But it’s doesn’t have to be complicated. Things become complicated…
Happy Valentines day. This is a day when we pause to celebrate love. 34 So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. 35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” The disciples had been told to love…
We have been in the Book of James. James is a very practical book and has many lessons in it. Remember, Paul teaches how a person becomes a Christian and James is saying, ok, you are a Christian, Here is how a Christian acts. He is all about our faith shining through in our actions. We are living in…
Why is Israel so important? Israel is central to the story of the Bible. The Bible records Israel’s past and prophecies about it’s future. The Jews are God’s chosen people through whom He provided a Savior to rescue mankind from their sins. This Savior, Jesus, was born in Israel, died in Israel, rose…
Intro Week 6 of the Book of James. James was written in a time when the church was scattered and persecuted. That’s why we are looking at it, because He is so practical about how to live. Who is wise? 13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility…
Intro Of all of the parts of James, this may be one of the toughest. Last week was pretty tough, but today we are talking about our tongues. We saw this verse in the first week of the Study of James back before Christmas and I’ll use it to introduce today’s message. 26 If you claim to be religious but…
As we proceed through the new year, we want to prepare you for live the life God has for you in 2024. So let me ask, How many of you beside me would like to change something this year in your life? Your situation? If you can’t think of anything that needs to change, ask your spouse. We all need to change…
Tax Time - Joke … man couldn’t sleep so he woke up and called the IRS office… I can’t sleep so I am sending you a $150. If I can’t go back to sleep I’ll send you the rest. Intro Week 3 of 4 part series of it’s time… The whole series is aimed at getting us going in 2024 I want you to live your best life…
Intro It’s about to be the New Year - 2024. How many of you make New Year’s Resolutions? How many of you kept those Resolutions? Not too many… Have you ever thought about why we make NY resolutions? We make them so that we can change things as we head into a New Year. The problem is that only about 5%…
Merry Christmas Eve everyone. Have you ever had one of those days where everything went wrong and you thought, I should not have gotten out of bed today? Once upon a time, in the bustling city of Murphyville, there lived a young man named Alex Murphy. One fateful day, Alex woke up with a spring in his…
Intro Joke - It’s okay to be frugal, but sometimes frugality borders on being a cheapskate? How many of you know someone who is a cheapskate? How many of you are a cheapskate? You know you’re a cheapskate if : 1. you have ketchup, mustard, or mayonnaise from fast food restaurants in your refrigerator.…
A Christmas Carol is a novel by English Author, Charles Dickens. You have probably read it or at least watched various movies with the title. It tells the story of a bitter old miser named Ebenezer Scrooge and his transformation into a gentler, kindlier man after visitations by the ghost of his former…
The book of James was written to a scattered church and we are still a scattered church… have been since COVID. James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings. People got used to not being in church and many have not gone back. Today…
We are going to spend sme time in Matthew 24 today as we look at the signs of the times. People are always wanting to know the future… when Jesus is coming back. People have written books about the 2nd coming and even predicted a date, which has come and gone… we’re still here. No one knows when Jesus…
We are in the final week of Life’s Healing choices. So far we have looked at 5 choices we can make with God’s help to move towards victory in our lives. 1st choice: Reality Choice where we realize that we are not God and admit that we are powerless to control our tendency to to the wrong thing and my…
Today I want to bring some clarity to whats going on in Israel as it relates to the Bible and the End times. After Jesus rose from the dead, he walked around on this earth for 40 days, was seen by his disciples & Mary several times and then by over 500 people at one time. In Acts 1:6 So when the apostles…
We are living in un-precedented times right now. I believe that we are living in the last of the last days. The Last Days began when Israel became a nation. People can believe what they want to believe, but Israel is the key to every thing about the end times. Hamas, Hezbollah, and others all supported…
We are in week 6 of Life’s Healing choices. So far we have looked at 5 choices we can make with God’s help to move towards victory in our lives. 1st choice: Reality Choice where we realize that we are not God and admit that we are powerless to control our tendency to to the wrong thing and my life is…
Intro This is a topic requested by you on the survey. Forgiveness Forgiveness is at the heart of what it means to be a Christian. The Bible has a lot to say about it so buckle up. One day Jesus said to his disciples, “There will always be temptations to sin, but what sorrow awaits the person who does…
We are in week 5 of Life’s Healing choices. So far we have looked at 4 choices we can make with God’s help to move towards victory in our lives. 1st choice: Reality Choice where we realize that we are not God and admit that we are powerless to control our tendency to to the wrong thing and my life is…
Intro - Is anybody fired up to be in church today? Give God some noise... Goal - Know… Believe and live the truth… So today we will learn some truth about spiritual warfare. “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence.…
Someone once said, I don’t worry. I just do painful thinking. Was anyone worried in the 2nd half last week? 4th quarter? We live in the day of quick cash, the mad dash, and a lot of Stress. We have all sorts of self help books that talk about reducing stress, but as smart as we think we are, all we have…
Intro We need to be people who serve so that people can Know Jesus. Last week we learned the why’s we need to share our faith. It’s our calling. People need the Lord. People want the Lord. I once was lost. We learned that the biggest factor in someone know Jesus is us. Look for the moments Jesus gives…
When I did youth ministry, we would take kids to Chuck E Cheese. They had a game called Whack-a-mole. In WAM, moles pop up out of holes and you have to hammer them back down. But as soon as you slam one, another pops up. And on and on it goes. The thing about this game and the reason it’s just evil,…
Tonight we’re going to conclude our series on “ Developing a Biblical Worldview .” Your worldview is the way you look at the world. It’s the beliefs that you base all of your decisions on. Everybody has a worldview whether they realize it or not. It’s often un-clarified. It’s often unspoken but everybody…
We are finishing our Back to School Series today as we discuss Team Spirit. I don’t know about you but our school had horrible team spirit even though we were awesome in football, so in our senior year, a group of us Seniors decided to take matters into our own hands. Each week we would introduce a new…
For the past four weeks, we’ve been in this series I’m calling “Framing Your Worldview.” We’re learning to look at life from God’s viewpoint. We’re looking at the major questions of life. We started the first week with, “ Why does it matter what I believe?” Does it really matter what I believe? We’ve…
Me - I ran Youth for Christ here in the city for 20 years. During that time, I had to raise money for my salary, and the salaries for staff that eventually came along. That was a fun time, but a scary time. The fun was working with kids and seeing lives changed. The scary part was raising the money to…
We are continuing our series on Developing a biblical Worldview. A well known atheist, Bertrand Russell once stated, Unless you assume there is a God the question of life’s purpose is meaningless. That’s about as true of a statement as has ever been said. Without God there is no purpose to life. If there…
In a poll a few years back, 70% of Americans said they were concerned about the decline in moral values in our society. It’s easy to see that there has been a decline in moral values. The LGBTQ agenda that’s being forced down everyone’s throats… pure crookedness in our political entities, and general…
Kids are going back to school. Some are looking forward to it some are not. If FB is right, most if not all parents are looking forward to it. I always liked school, because it meant football season was here and I got to see all of my friends. But not everyone likes for school to start. One guy said…
You’ve probably never heard of the name Sayyid Qutb. But Sayyid Qutb has had a profound effect on your life. On your family, on your job, on your future, on your travel. Even though he died about forty years ago he has had profound influence on you through his worldview. How did he do that? Sayyid Qutb…
God’s not dead… transforming people’s lives, healing hurting people and reconciling relationships. Today, He’s blessing people’s lives and families… Some families live expecting great blessings while others need to experience great blessings. A child asked his father, "Dad, How were people born?" So…
As we continue our GOD’S NOT DEAD sermon series, we’ve seen how GOD’S NOT DEAD because He is still Transforming Lives , Helping Hurting People , and last week we saw how He is Solving People’s Problems . Today we are looking at how God is still Reconciling Relationships. Let me ask, How many you you…
Wed we began this short series of God’s not Dead with the message God’s Transforming Lives. We discussed how we have to through off the past, allow God to change the way we think and then put on our new selves. A pastor got a letter “Dear Pastor. I’m very discouraged and I’m really hurting at this time.…
Good morning and Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers. A young boy once said that Father’s Day is just like Mother’s Day only you don’t spend as much on the gift. Most men… what gift? Mark Twain said, " When I was a boy of 14 my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around.…
We have been in a study about the Habits of Happiness. We all want to be happy right? As Paul wraps up his letter to the Philippians, he does so with a promise. 19 And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.…
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated…
Sunday, Pastor Paul Radke III, preached on the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. If you missed that message find it on our Website or FB page. Paul talked about how the Holy Spirit working through us will change the world around us… we just have to let Him do that. He changes the world because he…
You are not an accident. Each one of you was created by God for a special purpose. Your life in Christ begins with a spiritual rebirth. What that means is that everything you’ve ever done wrong is erased… forgiven and forgotten by God. It’s like restarting your phone. God is saying, let’s get a new start.…
Your mind is an amazing creation of god.. It stores billions of pieces of information. It can record 800 memories per second … for 75 years without wearing out. No computer, not even a Mac, will ever match that capacity and you will only us a fraction of the capacity of your brain. 7 For as he thinks…
Happy Easter … Resurrection Sunday. I am glad Jesus got up out of that grave. If you are checking us out, welcome. We want to take you Spiritual Journey - We believe you are on a spiritual journey already even if you don’t know you are on a spiritual journey because you are made in the image of God and…
I believe we are in the beginning of the end. I believe the rapture of the church could come at any moment. I do know the spirit of the end times and the Anti-Christ are here. 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is…
Intro We are living in difficult times. Russia has lost it’s mind and invaded the Ukraine causing death and harm to millions of people. Due to this war, inflation has increased even more than it was before … it’s just a difficult time. Let’s start… 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every…
2 My help comes from the Lord , the Maker of heaven and earth. 11 So David and his men went up to Baal Perazim, and there he defeated them. He said, “As waters break out, God has broken out against my enemies by my hand.” So that place was called Baal Perazim. Breakthrough Defined: A breakthrough is…
God loves you the way you are, but He loves you way too much to let you stay that way, and so His goal is to make you like Christ. How does He do that? Does he just zap you and all of a sudden you think, feel and act like Jesus? No… unfortunately. That would be too easy. 18 So all of us who have had…
When I worked in Hospitals… we caught a thief who had been robbing the Dr offices. when they told him that he took $4,000 from an office, he retorted… I only took 1500 … What do you do when you are driving and a police car pulls up behind you? Slow dow… even of you are going the speed limit… right? The…
Joke : Boudreaux told Thibidoux, My uncle made him a new kind of car. He took the engine from a Ford… the transmission from a Chevy… and the tires from a Cadolac… and the exhaust system from Buick… Really? What did he get? 15 to 20 for Grand Theft Auto COVID and now the Russian invasion of the Ukraine…
Video of Retreat... 18 Then he said, “Now pick up the other arrows and strike them against the ground.” So the king picked them up and struck the ground three times. 19 But the man of God was angry with him. “You should have struck the ground five or six times!” he exclaimed. “Then you would have beaten…
1 “For the Kingdom of Heaven is like the landowner who went out early one morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay the normal daily wage and sent them out to work. 3 “At nine o’clock in the morning he was passing through the marketplace and saw some people standing around doing nothing.…
4th week of From this Day Forward… Are great relationships possible? They are if we live differently than the culture. They are not if you go along with our culture. God has given us an owners manuel to live by and I have discovered that God’s way works. We all have baggage that we bring into today,…
Week 4 of Making the most of your time. Hopefully it has helped. 15 So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. 16 Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. 17 Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. We are told to make the…
Introduction Week 3 of Redeeming Your Time. 15 So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. 16 Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. 17 Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. We are told to make the best use of our time…
We are in a relationship series. God never designed us to go through life alone… with any relationship. We are talking about... From this Day Forward... Those are popular words that are used in many weddings. Let’s look at the theme verse for this series. 19 The thought of my suffering and homelessness…
Introduction Last week, we started a series called Making the Most of Your Time In Ephesians 5:15-17 15 So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. 16 Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. 17 Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord…
It’s Valentines Month o we want to talk about Relationships. Funny wedding pics… Craig Groschel wrote the book, from this day forward From this day forward… 19 I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. 20 I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. 21 Yet this…
today - series Redeeming your time. What does the term redeeming your time even mean? Does God really care how we spend our time today and every day? Let’s look at the Bible to see what it says. The term Redeeming Your Time comes from the book of Ephesians. After teaching about the Gospel of Grace in…
Tonight, we will learn 5 principles of prayer that will help you in your prayer life. God has principles in place for prayer that will bring him to answer you and all of us want God to answer our prayers. Tonight we will look to James, the half brother of Jesus and draw some principles out of them that…
We are in a message series titled, I have decided. Decisions that are critical to your life 1 - Getting closer to Jesus. If you get closer to him it will fuel everything else in your life. 2. Being a follower. we discovered it’s more serious that we may have thought. Deny Self, Take up Cross, and follow…
Intro We are in the middle of 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting. What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus? If you ask 100 people, you will get a 100 different answers. Why is that? We are living in a culture today where following is based on personal convenience instead of personal conviction. Social…
Creating a Lifestyle of Prayer 35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Prayer is most effective when it isn’t something, we do every now and then, but when it’s a lifestyle we cultivate. To understand how to…
I have Decided... 13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. Paul is…
We are now in 2022. Good bye 2021. I know many are glad to see 2021 go bye bye. New years is a great time to look back and to look ahead. How do we evaluate last year and step into what God wants us to do this next year? Reminder… January 9-29 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting Fasting resources… River Church…
Today, I want to read the Christmas Story. The reason is that I want to do this is that we can go through the whole season and realize we never heard the Christmas story. Too many people wake up the day after Christmas and realize that they did not hear the Christmas story. They drive by nativity scenes…
How many of you have that uncle… or that cousin. I had an uncle and he would drive all of his sisters crazy by coming over and shaking the presents. If it rattled, he would say it must be something good. Because of that, I used to put change or rocks or anything that would rattle in presents I gave……
Joy is mentioned 8 times in the Christmas Story It’s Christmas time and we want to look at the choices that create joy in your life but do it from the Christmas story tonight. Everyone has Christmas on their minds right now, especially the stores which seem to be doing well… at least by my observation.…
Even as a small church… even in a pandemic… you guys have made a difference this year. Fuel the Future… Food Distribution… Food Pantry… Feeding Sick people… Feeding grieving families… Christmas Service - One Day to Feed the World - We are not here just to go to church and enjoy each other… Jesus said……
Intro Today we want to discuss peace. Peace is something that is missing in our world. Just this week, we had a judges mother shot by thugs trying to steal cars in a neighborhood. When some people came out to confront them, one yelled at the others, shoot those people. That’s not peace on earth. In the…
As Americans, we are very concerned about purity in some areas while in other areas we could not care less. For instance, when it comes to clean air and water, people are very concerned. Our culture is overly concerned to the point of forcing battery cars… trying to limit automobiles etc… to clean up…
Think about the thing that you want the most this Christmas. What would be the one thing you would want to be in this box? It could be an apple product… or jewelry… new game… camping equipment… train… No matter who we are, we all like to get presents, more than anything, most people would like for HOPE…
Let’s Give Thanks An older man living in Westwego called his daughter living in Atlanta. He proceeded to tell her that he and his wife had decided to get a divorce... even after all these years. He ha had enough - it was over. The distraught daughter said, "Dad, you can't, you just can't. You and mom…
We’ve been talking about values to live by. I remember when I used to do youth ministry in schools. We would do these values exercises. We would give you a scenerio that puts you in a rubber raft with a friend… a set of flares… enough food for a week… 5 gallons of water… You can’t make it to land without…
Series Values to Live By Today we want to talk about honesty. We all say that we value honesty and when asked what we want our kids to be, honest is always at the top. Survey’s have shown that 90% of Americans lie regularly . How can you even trust the survey? There are opportunities every day for you…
You would think that we really don’t need to be taught anything about fairness because at least some of us were taught to be fair in kindegarten and Sunday school. share your toys… games… popcorn… when it comes to pie, everyone gets the same amount But as adults we kind of need to look at the issue of…
Intro: Values to live by… Last time… Giving Respect I have had to read obituaries and introduce people at places and mispronounced their names from time to time… to make it worse, we often try to correct what we did and often we make it worse. Has anyone besides me ever tried to make something wrong…
We are continuing Values to Live by and we are going to look at another endangered value today… respect. We live in an extremely rude culture and it’s getting worse every day. It seems to me that respect for other people and their property is at an all time low. Look what happened with all the riots…
I don’t think you have to try hard to understand that most people’s lives are out of balance. We used to teach this to kids in Campus Life… Living Balanced Life. Jesus modeled it. 52 Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people. Jesus grew mentally, physically, spiritually,…
28 A man without self-control is as defenseless as a city with broken-down walls. Anything that’s uncontrolled eventually will destroy you. It can be eating, drinking, sex, television, chocolate, spending, pecan pie… anything that’s not controlled will eventually destroy you. So we have been looking…
Who are you going to trust? So far in this series, Values to Live by, we have talked about developing your standards, choosing what’s going to be the standard for your life. Last time we talked about accepting responsibility for your life. The next question that comes up is, Who are you going to trust?…
Sunday, we talked about choosing what you will stand on… culture, yourself or God. Most everyone stood up and said they wanted to stand on something more stable. We learned that our beliefs determine our actions and our character. So it’s vital that we learn to build our lives on values that last. Today…
Intro What are your values? the core values that you use to make decisions? Your values are your core beliefs that shape everything you do in life. Some would say beliefs don’t matter, but they do. Belief Behavior Connection It does matter what you believe… it matters a lot. Your beliefs determine your…
1 Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. 2 Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. 3 Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the…
How many of you have a list of unanswered questions? I used to say, when I get to heaven I want to ask God... Why did God make Mosquitos? Why did God make Red Bugs? Why did God make Poison Ivy? Why do they put flotation devices under airplane seats instead of parachutes? Why we keep junk in our garage…
Joke - Priest… Rabbi … Pastor… I am preaching some of the messages we have been preaching because as your pastor, I am concerned with how you are handling all the Trauma of the last 18 months as well as the last 2 months. Covid has changed the world… the way we travel… requirements to go places… Who…
Intro God uses several things to help us to grow. God’s Word… Holy Spirit… Circumstances. God allows circumstances into our lives so that we can learn to know him and depend on him more. All kinds of situations and problems will come into our lives that God wants to use to move you into a relationship…
Intro We have had an interesting couple of years here. First there was a virus we began to hear about and in almost no time, the world shut down. President Trump shut down the borders and had everyone stay home… we along with the rest of the world went into a 2 month lock down… some longer. The isolation…
We have been living in a time that will test our faith but it’s also a time that will build our faith stronger than ever before. It’s easy after a year and half of COVID, and now a Hurricane to feel like we are just treading water. But God still has a plan and a purpose for your lives… Many of you have…
3 We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy. 5 This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare…
Intro We talk about becoming a Christian and I am afraid that we often do do the life justice. Becoming a Christian is by the Grace of God, but the bible doesn’t say there is nothing to it. I mentioned last week about the stripper that thinks she is a Christian. Being a Christian is more than me saying…
Intro I believe God calls us to be difference makers in life and part of that means we are different. Jesus wants us to live a rich and satisfying life full of Joy, but many do not... Think about a time when you have been over joyed. Well, we want to learn how to have that kind of joy every day. 1 We…
Intro - 21 Days of Prayer - Refocus, Refresh, We are not really fasting, but we know we need to get some toxins out of our lives. Detox - Removal of toxic substances from a living organism We need to removes some toxins from our lives… spirit, soul and body. In January we do this in the fast. I am pretty…
We’ve been talking about getting on the right frequency to hear from God. Tonight, I want to finish the series with a message titled, Recognizing God’s Voice. John 10 has been the theme verse for this series. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him.…
Week 3 of Detox We are coming out of Summer where we have been on vacations and conferences, and traveling… During the Summer people stop doing things they should be doing like church attendance, QT, eating healthy, all sorts of stuff. We are coming into the Fall… the season of the Harvest. To get ready…
Week 2 of Detox We are coming out of Summer where we have been on vacations and conferences, and traveling… During the Summer people stop doing things they should be doing like church attendance, QT, eating healthy, all sorts of stuff. We are coming into the Fall… the season of the Harvest. To get ready…
Intro 21 Days if Prayer begins Sunday… Aug 22 - Bring a Friend Sunday - Theme verse 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow…
Isn’t that a pleasant thought. You came to church today and the pastor said we need a cleanse. We are getting ready to do 21 Days of Prayer. In January we do prayer and fasting. But in August, we don’t. But there are things we need to get our of our system. Detox - Removal of toxic substances from a…
Intro- We will begin 21 Days of Prayer on August 1st… Last Week, Fred did a great job talking about being ready to hear . We used the name Frequency for this short series because we want to be on God’s Frequency. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him.…
Week 2 of two weeks of Honor. It’s amazing to me how much hatred and anger and disrespect is going on in our culture. The disrespect is awful and it comes from having no respect for ourselves. People don’t respect authority… look at what’s going on in our nation… People are and have been disrespecting…
Intro Our culture has become more and more dishonoring. People show no respect to the flag, to the police, to their parents, to each other, and to themselves. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. We want to teach 6 “A son honors his father, and a servant…
The Law of Christ 14 As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified, and the world’s interest in me has also died. Paul is saying that his life is not centered on a code, but on a person. His interest…
Happy 4th of July. It has always been a fun holiday for me. Quite often we would spend some of it at the lake skying and then watch fireworks. Other times we would grill at home and watch fireworks. We live in a great nation … the greatest in the history of the planet. We celebrate as a nation our independence…
We are doing a series on Sundays I called Facing Your Giants . So far we have looked at giants like: Fear... Guilt and Shame... Lack of Integrity... and today we will Face the Giant of Temptation. I think we all understand temptation to some degree. There was a little boy in a grocery store standing…
In the book “ The Day America Told the Truth ” (1991), the authors (James Patterson & Peter Kim) relate the stunning results of a question which was asked of Americans. The question was simply this: What are you willing to do for $10 million? 2/3 of those polled said they would do at least one of the…
Intro #3 of Galatians Paul - Apostle who went all over the Gentile World planting church. He would raise up pastors and go start another church. To help them while he was gone, he wrote letters… Galatians, Philippians, Romans… Galatians - in the heart of modern-day Turkey. Galatians is a book to help…
Intro Two men were on trial for armed robbery. An eye witness took the stand to testify and the prosecutor got up to begin questioning. First, he asked the eye witness… were you at the scene of the robbery? Yes the eye witness stated. Did you see the vehicle leave the scene at a high rate of speed? Yes…
Two Trees - Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil Tree of Life It’s no longer I who live 11 Later, when Peter came to Antioch, I had a face-to-face confrontation with him because he was clearly out of line. 12 Here’s the situation. Earlier, before certain persons had come from James, Peter regularly ate…
Intro We just finished a series, Running with the Giants. But the giants of the faith who are cheering us on are not the only giants in the world. We face giants daily. Giants of Fear… Guilt & Shame… Temptations… Hopelessness So today, I want to start s short series I am calling Facing Your Giants .…
Galatians is a book to help us to be grounded in the proper doctrine of the faith Paul - Apostle who went all over the Gentile World planting church. He would raise up pastors and and go start another church. To help them while he was gone, he wrote letters… Galatians, Philippians, Romans… Galatians…
Finding God’s Favor 19 If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land; God’s Favorite? 11 For God does not show favoritism. 34 Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism God shows no favoritism or partiality 3 Now Israel loved…
Today is Pentecost Sunday. It the day we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit to the Early Church to STAY. Some churches recognize it as being part of the Christian Calendar with no relevance for today. I was raised in a good church, but it was a church that didn’t really celebrate Pentecost. We don’t…
Intro - Talk about Easter Invites - Bad Days… Good Friday anything but good. 2 Keep your eyes on Jesus , who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along…
Intro 1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We have these witnesses who are cheering us…
Intro: Looking at Bad Days… at Jesus Bad day… Good Friday Joke - There was this Hell's Angel riding down the road on his motorcycle last winter. He was wearing a leather jacket that had a broken zipper. He finally stopped the bike and thought to himself, "Man, I can't drive anymore with the cold air…
Intro Week 2 of Running the Giants. Last week we learned from Samson. 1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God…
Looking at Bad Days… more of them than we ever thought… and they last longer than we want. Different Levels of Bad Days. I described my bad day ringing doorbells last week. Train Derailment story... Jesus’ Bad day was actually what we call Good Friday, but it was anything but good for Jesus. Looking…
Intro John Maxwell Running with the Giants… Learning from the Giants… Wisdom from the Women of the Bible... We can learn a lot from the Heroes of the faith. You can read about a lot of these in Hebrews 11 . After writing about all of these heroes of the faith, in chapter 12, he says… 1 Therefore, since…
We are looking at he 7 statements on the cross and in each one of these statements there is a life lesson on them. When we look to Christ, the WOG helps us to understand what God wants us to do and how he wants us to live. 2 Keep your eyes on Jesus , who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study…
Today is the final day of our sermon series Love Reigns. We have been challenging ourselves to allow the love of God to reign in every area of our lives. The first week , we celebrated the life death and resurrection of Jesus Christ on Easter. We celebrate because the resurrection is the proof that Jesus…
We are taking the statements Jesus made on the cross and using them to study how Jesus handled the worst day of His life. 2 Keep your eyes on Jesus , who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and…
Welcome, River Church Church. We are so glad you have chosen to worship with us today. We believe God has you here for a reason, and we pray that you experience him in a fresh and new way today. We are in the middle of a sermon series called “Love Reigns”. We began this series called Love Reigns on Easter,…
Last week was Easter and we began the series, Love Reigns. We celebrated the miraculous resurrection of Jesus from the grave as proof that he is who he said he was… the King of Kings. Many of you committed your lives to live under the reign of Jesus love so that we can become more and more like him.…
Tonight I want to talk about Getting Strong in your Spirit. 10 A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 16 I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Let me ask you, Do you really want to be stronger? The reason I…
Good Morning! Jesus is Alive! Happy Easter everyone. Today, along with churches all over the world, we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Our culture can’t understand why Jesus would be willing to die for the world, but He did it our of love. It was God’s love that caused Jesus to offer himself…
Introduction It’s Good Friday … for us, but it was a difficult day for Jesus. On the day of Jesus’ crucifixion, there were three crosses on that hill. What was the difference between the three crosses on Golgotha? Have you ever thought about that? Each one had someone different on it with a different…
Intro As we approach Easter, we have been talking about asking God whom you should invite to church Easter Sunday... Tonight we want to talk about another way to see people come to faith in Christ. Never underestimate the power of your testimony . A witness is simply someone who told what they have seen…
Intro We have been looking at what the church is supposed to be. Jesus said, 18 Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. Series – Our Church – Passion for God , Prayer, Praise and Worship and for…
Last Week we look at lessons from Joseph’s Life. There are many more that we could study on his life. As we look at the birth of Moses, we will lean that even when it’s not apparent, God’s plan will be accomplished not matter what. We can either fight his will or we can be used by God to fulfill it.…
Intro - Easter – time when people will come to church that normally would not. There is a lot of worry about the church and we are being attacked... There are moves in the public square to silence Christians who still believe the Bible… who hold to Biblical morals. People will try to make you a racist…
We are going to look at Gen 50:15-21 in a few minutes where Joseph is dealing with his brothers after they sold him as a slave to the traders who then sold him to slavery in Egypt. To get to Gen 50 and the passage for tonight, we travel through several events in Joseph’s life. Joseph tells his brothers…
Intro 18 Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. We want to build a good foundation. Honest Life Changing Relationships Today I want to talk about small groups. Normal human nature doesn’t like…
I titled the passage about Jacob today because we can’t afford to win when we fight against God. None of us like to lose… at anything, but there is a battle that we all need to lose. that’s what we will look at tonight. Tonight we are going to look at the story of Jacob when he wrestled with God. How…
Intro - Wednesday - Andre did a great job sharing his testimony. If you did not see it, go to our website to hear it. Had a great Valentine Banquet Friday We are in Week 2 of Our Church… probably should have called it HIS Church. Series is built on this verse. 18 Now I say to you that you are Peter (which…
Intro - I think that you will agree with me that we live in a culture that is increasingly moving away from the Lord. A couple of weeks ago, we studied Noah on Wednesday. You can go to our website or FB to hear that message again. Just as it was too late when God closed the door on the ark, it will be…
Hope you enjoyed the story of the fall of mankind last week. We are now going to look at Abram who became Abraham. God chose Abram, and we don’t really know why. but God chose him and made his descendants into a great nation… Israel. Abraham will be the Father of Israel which will be a country that is…
Over the last two weeks, we have been looking at growth and things that keep us from growing. Last week, we learned that we don’t often grow in life and in our faith because it can be painful. It takes effort and sometimes the process can be painful. Today, we will see another behavior that keeps us…
ME AN MAH FREN LEROY VICNAIR USED TO HUNT AND FISH TOGETHER ALL THE TIME. ONE DAY ms WIFE TELL ME, u BOUDREAUX, AH JUST BOUGHT ME A PARROT BIRD BUT AH CAN'T TEACH HIM TO TALK." "BOUDREAUX, YOU KNOW WAY BAACK IN THE OLD TIMES, HOW THOSE PIRATES USED TO TAKE DEM PARROTS WITH THEM WHEN THEY WENT TO SEA…
Last week we discussed that the Bible as a whole is telling the story of God’s creation and redemption of us… men and women. Today we will go all the way back to the beginning and look at the creation of mankind. As Christians, we believe that God created the World . Just the simple statement that God…
We are beginning a new series titled, I’ll do it tomorrow. For the next four weeks we will discuss change, why we need to change and some of the difficulties with change. Change is not something we like to go through. However some things need to change… bell bottoms Platform shoes Leisure suits Everything…
The Gospel story is a 52-week series takes us on a chronological and inspiring journey through God’s Word. From the first book of scripture, Genesis, to the close of Revelation, “ The Gospel Story ” outlines the narrative of God’s wondrous work of salvation history . Genesis to Revelation is a narrative…
A New Year is a time when we look to make a fresh start. Kind of like restarting your computer or your phone. We make resolutions to begin the year… most of which we don’t keep. What are some New Years Resolutions that you need to make? Here are few that others have made. I will not bore my boss by with…
Welcome to the first Wednesday after Christmas weekend. How many of you were ready for Christmas? Here are 10 resolutions for you… or maybe not... 1. Stop doom scrolling on Twitter 2. Get on a new diet for 6 months before giving up 3. Sign up for a marathon that you bravely will NOT actually run. 4.…
Intro - 2020 What a year. It’s been crazy and this is our last Sunday of 2020. Everything was going great in many ways AND THEN the Pandemic hit. No one was ready NOR could anyone have been ready for what this pandemic has done to our world, our nation, our communities and our lives. People have lived…
Intro Merry Christmas! Eve Eve! we are glad you are joining us to night as we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Savior. It’s almost Christmas Day and although it will be different because of the pandemic. I know even with the difference of 2020 Christmas is always filled with anticipation.... especially…
We have been in a series titled Best Christmas Ever. We have learned about peace, joy, hope and love. Today I want to talk more about How to have Your Best Christmas Ever. I think it’s a great time to do this especially since we have been out of being able to meet together for 3 weeks due to the COVID…
It’s now the Christmas season … my favorite time of the year. I love Christmas movies, even though they are corny… We have been doing a Wednesday series, Living a Radical Life for Jesus. Tonight, I want to look at Living with Radical Faith. What is radical faith? to understand what that is, we will look…
2020… what else do I need to say? It’s been a year. Pandemic, losses of friends and family, losses of jobs, riots, Politics, new job opportunities, loss of habits, … and it just keeps on going. We all want more joy, but we have learned that we have to choose Joy. Pray Purity guilty and happy Our purpose…
Intro We are living in a culture that’s looking everywhere for happiness or joy. People often look everywhere but the right place... First Choice - Prayer Second Choice - Daily Choice of purity It’s impossible to fell guilty and have joy at the same time So we learned that we have to deal with and get…
Intro LW we talked about Radical Presence. We have to live in the radical presence of God each and every day. Tonight we will look at something we all need and must give… Radical Mercy Actually mercy in and of itself is radical… genuine mercy is radical. It’s the radical thing that only God can do i…
Last week we began a series called Choose Joy. How many think it’s time… it’s time for some joy. You don’t see a lot of joy out in the world right now. Everyone is angry about something. In the prophecy of Jesus hundreds of years before he came, Isaiah described our time. 3 To console those who mourn…
I want to talk about RADICAL LIVING. And Radical living involves a lot of things we will study over the coming weeks, but it begins with Radical Presence of God. If I were to ask you what the most common emotional pain people struggle with in our culture is… many would answer anxiety or depression or…
Intro 2020… what else do I need to say? It’s been a year. Because it’s been that kind of year, most of our messages have been pretty heavy. So today, I want to shift gears for a few weeks. We have been fighting the pandemic along with being in an election year so I think we need to lighten if up a bit……