The River Church Sermons

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 somebo...

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 a...

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,...

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. T...

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 si...

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 learnin...

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...

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 P...

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...

“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 que...

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 Cana...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 c...

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...

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...

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 myste...

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-overl...

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...

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 b...

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 Christm...